Joseph Marano

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My life is dedicated to helping families who have been affected by an injury that shouldn’t have happened, because I know what it’s like to be one of those families.
Joseph MaranoPartner

For me, the courtroom is the place where David really can stand up to Goliath.

My clients, individuals and their families, have gone up against the largest health systems, the biggest insurance companies, the most bad-ass chemical company, the richest pharmaceutical company, and even the United States government.

After college, I started as a foreign correspondent and then an investigative journalist. For each article, I would conduct interviews and often review reams of documents. Often, my stories were about those in powerful positions who had misused those positions. Those skills gave me a taste for cross-examination.

For my final project as a journalist, I wrote a historical account of the Nazi war crimes trials in Germany, told through the story of one of the last major Nazi figures to stand trial. (For more on that, here is a write up on the book.) I attended the trial in Stuttgart, Germany and listened to the stories of Holocaust survivors who testified to the crimes the Nazi officer had committed. I saw just how much the law matters, how the law really is a means to a measure of justice.

When my book manuscript was completed and off to the publisher, I turned to the law myself. I found a way to channel my experiences and skills – writing, investigating, questioning, challenging – so that I, too, could help people achieve a measure of justice.

The cases I take often involve complex issues of medicine and science. A medical procedure that went bad. A devastating medication error that caused a brain or spinal cord injury. A toxic exposure that caused cancer. A product or drug that was defective and caused a serious loss or permanent injury. Of course, the goal is to obtain maximum compensation for the serious wrongs my clients have suffered. We have won millions of dollars in jury verdicts and have obtained millions more in settlements to achieve that goal. The goal also has to be to help the client achieve a measure of justice, to restore dignity and respect.

From the first meeting I have with a new client until the moment that person’s case is completely resolved, I always try to remember the road that led me to where I am and the reasons I do what I do.

When I was 15 years old, my father died from what my family would later learn was a preventable medical error. My mother who was not employed at the time was left to support and raise me and my younger brother. This experience changed my life and is a constant motivation. Every time a new client contacts me about an injury or loss, I treat that person like I would treat my own mother, because I recall the time when she was in that same situation.

Because of this experience, I understand that an injury can have an emotional as well as a physical toll, not just on the injured individual but on their entire family. This connection with my clients translates into passion when I am in front of a jury to tell my client’s story. When I take on a case, I am aware of the importance of getting appropriate monetary compensation for the family, as well as bringing the client answers and a sense of closure.

As a South Philly native, I was raised in a very tight-knit community where everyone looked out for their neighbors. This experience taught me the meaning of community and loyalty, values that I embrace to this day. I bring that same loyalty to my clients and their causes. I continue to be very involved in my community, serving on the board of a scholarship fund that gives high-achieving students from my neighborhood an opportunity to rise above the stereotypes of what an inner-city child can achieve, just as I did. In addition, I serve as a board member for the Ligouri Academy, a private school in Philadelphia’s most economically deprived area that provides a first class education to some of the most economically deprived children in Philadelphia, who despite their difficult situation have the desire to achieve great things.

My background creates a strong ambition to level the playing field for working class families in need of help. Most of my clients are people who aren’t in a position of power and have been taken advantage of by the system. It is representing the people who are most vulnerable and most in need of justice that inspires me.

I love the challenge of taking on complex cases involving serious injuries from a medical error or a product defect or a construction site mishap because I enjoy the challenge of going toe to toe with medical and scientific experts and forcing the responsible party or company to be held accountable for their mistakes. My life is dedicated to helping families who have been affected by an injury that shouldn’t have happened, because I know what it’s like to be one of those families.