Welcome back to Come Back with a Warrant. I'm Brandon Dinetz, former prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney. And I'm Monica Ishak, former public defender, now holding it down in private practice. And today we have a very special guest. Yeah, this one's personal. She's not just one of Florida's top young civil trial lawyers. She's also my wife, the mother of our son, and someone who somehow still likes me. Jennifer Dinetz is in the studio. She's a partner at Nogis Dinetz Injury Law, a fierce advocate for people who've suffered.
And she's basically the only person we know who can manage a courtroom, a toddler, and a full caseload without breaking a sweat. As always, this podcast is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Nothing you hear today is legal advice. If you need legal help, hire a lawyer. Better yet, hire us.
All right, welcome back to Come Back with a Warrant. And I am very excited for our first guest. I think probably our best guest also is my wife, Jennifer Dinitz. How are you? I'm great. How are you? Good. We are very excited to have you. You bring a lot to the legal community and my life and specifically. But yeah, then that's exactly right.
Um, and we have a lot to talk about with you. Um, so we're going to jump right into it. Monica, get us started. guys, you guys met at the state attorney's office, right? We did. And I heard at the last episode that you were a supervisor, which I did not know at the time, because I think by the time I came to the public defender's office, you had either left the state or like, I don't know. I never had an overlap with you. Literally the first time I heard your name was when.
Brandon and I were engaged and he said that, I know this public defender that has a side business that also plans weddings. And I was like, great. Yes, and that's when you guys were engaged about to be married. Right. So that was the first time I heard your name. Yeah. And then I became friends with you independent of Yes, yes, yes. Outside of this. But I believe the question was how did we meet? How did you two meet? I also was asking her if she was enough. Yeah, yeah. So this is about Monica and my love. Yeah, I know. Right.
Yeah, you can stay out of this. Okay, this is our show now. But you guys, you were supervisor, right? Yes, I was the lead. Okay. So when you started the state, especially the time that I was there, which was pre-COVID, it was, I mean, I'm sure it is now, but I don't know how the state runs now. Pre-COVID, it was a very sought after place to work. I remember when I applied in law school, because I went to school in Tallahassee and I got the job. Apparently I got the
one of the very few coveted spots. So it was a very, it was a very great, wonderful place to work. It was hard to get into. So it took time that when you started at the state to kind of move up. So it took me a full year thereabouts to move up to a lead position, which meant I supervised my division. So by the time that Brandon came in, he was the new class underneath us. I was a supervisor. So we were tasked with kind of teaching the new kids what to do.
Look at you. Yeah, well. Which is why our relationship stayed under wraps for quite some time. Well, it scandalous. Yeah, very. Yeah, it I was like, that is so scandalous. Yeah, it's a little bit. Well, the state attorney also was like, it was like high school. Yeah. I mean, it was fun because a great majority of the people that were working there were the same age. We were all 25, 26. Right. And all we cared about was doing our job and then getting happy hours. Yeah. Yeah, that was the vibe for sure. Fair enough.
Worse so than the public defenders, I would say. I think, but still, like, that's, that's, it's high school vibes. Everybody's just, you know, dating each other, going out, going to happy hours, and then going to court the next morning. Everyone dated each other. That's right. A lot of those relationships are still very much intact, I will say. now. Yeah, everybody's got kids now. guys? Yeah, of course. But, you know, like, we have, like, a lot of couple friends that we all met first, second year at the state. Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah, it is.
It's like your first adult job. So it's like your first time to like, opportunity to really meet a potential husband or wife, right? It's like a, it's like your residency program for doctors. It's like, that's the next step after professional school is to go to that type of office, which for us was a government job and was perfect. Not that you can't make a career out of it, but that's, that was what we did. We went and followed up with school and went into
that type of like, you know, residency program. I described it that way. And the only way that I even knew what a residency program was, was from you watching so much Grey's Anatomy. So. Still do. Yeah. So that's how I am able to compare it. But yeah, when I, when Jen and I met, it was a training session. Right. And the younger attorneys were supposed to pretend to be dealing with a defense attorney.
And Jen was a pretend defense attorney and Jen had to make, you know, my life difficult as the young prosecutor. So she came up and, you know, was telling me my offer was ridiculous. And I'm sure that it was, but, I was like, not really focused on the offer. was just like, okay. Like, yeah, she's, she's great. I was like, this is awesome. I was like, okay.
Can you get the defense attorney's numbers? Like, I didn't know if that was a thing that was allowed. Can we incorporate that into the plea sheet? Yeah, right. I was like, your client can get whatever he wants. That's fine. No big deal. But yeah, that's how we met. were, and in fairness, you were the supervisor for friends of mine. were in another program. were not my direct supervisor. I was kind of hoping that one day we would be placed in the same division, but I think looking back, it was probably
that we were not in the same division. Yeah, that's true. We never tried a case together. No. Although it would probably be an interesting... you guys can do it now, for sure. Technically we could. Yeah. We could. Yeah, that would be really cool. I actually, talking back to the other couples that we knew that met, they all tried cases together. Yeah. Yeah. And like, it was a regret of mine that we never did. We could have. Yeah. That's why we didn't. Maybe because we are still so under wraps. Yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah, I I really don't know why we didn't know that was not something that we got to do while we were there, but it was it was awesome at the time because I could get I would be able to learn I was able to learn from you and I could learn how to you know do the job from you while also, you know courting you and dating you and and that was yeah, it was a it was a very fun time. I will say
I remember this very specifically, although we didn't try cases together, we both watched each other in trial. And not only was it because it was cute, am I performing for my boyfriend? Like a little bit. But he gave me like the best critiques. So I knew that when he was saying do this differently, do this this way, try this, it was coming from a good place. wasn't a place of jealousy. was nothing of that nature because we weren't competing. So that was like...
That was good for our development. Yeah, I think so. I mean, yeah, I'll give you notes. Oh, that was so great. Yeah. Yeah, that was great. But you can definitely do better in this. Yeah. I mean, there's always room for improvement for every trial attorney, think. always, always, always. And especially at that time, I mean, there was a time that I was trying two to three cases a week. Oh, gosh. In misdemeanor court where you'd have one day trials. Right. We had times where I had like a jury deliberating and I would be.
opening over like doing jury selection or something. another case. my God. Yeah, it was tough. Exciting, but I mean, you certainly are not nervous in courtroom anymore. no. And he would just, when he could, he would bring his files to the courtroom and just take notes. work from there, yeah. Yep, and vice versa. That's the best way to learn. Wow, And if you want to be a really good trial attorney, that's, you know, the best way to learn is to keep watching trials. Yeah. And you improved so much just in that amount of time. And now I don't...
get to see you in action as much, I mean, I know your, the skill level was like off the charts then. That was very cool to watch back then. Yeah, no, that was, that was cool. mean, obviously you're successful still. So I get tons of practice cross-examining at home. So it works. Yeah. Yeah. All the time with me. The witness. Yeah. It's great. Star witness over here. It's fun. Is it? Yeah. You like being on the stand? All the time.
Anytime I'm home. What's a smile, Odyssey? think a persistent phrase that is used is like, Jen, I don't have a transcript. I can't read it back. Well, that's true. And I don't remember enough. So it would be a problem if I did read it back, because I'd probably be wrong. I'd be impeached constantly in my own house. And I'd be like, OK, well, then I guess I did say that. That's fine. wow. Yeah, that's fine. OK. Well. It's that easy. Yeah, she's good at what she does. So taking that into account, the fact that we used to watch each other in trial.
What I did after about a year and a half of dating, think it was, I decided that I wanted to propose to Jen and make things, like take everything to the next level. And I spent between October and February of, I believe 2017, no, 20.
I'm not sure. The math doesn't math. The math doesn't math. But anyway, in any event, I started in October and wound up proposing in February. taking in the idea of trying a case and doing a jury trial, I wanted to tie that into how I proposed to Jen. So what I did was I came up with a fake jury trial and decided that
I would ask Jen to come to the courthouse to watch me give an opening statement. And ideally, if everything worked out, when she was there and the jury came out, and the judge, well, the judge first came out and then the jury came out, I would have a jury made up of all friends and family. And then I would make a nice speech and propose. you have a real judge like sitting there? Yeah. How did you let go about that?
I did it the right way because one, was still working as a prosecutor. So I made sure that I was going to be off. So I wasn't, you know, being paid to do it. I also spoke with the judge ahead of time and had her clear it with the chief judge. It was a judge that I wasn't practicing in front of, but it was a judge that I just respected a lot. And I can say it was Judge Shepherd. She was awesome. I asked her if I could do the
proposal in her courtroom. She cleared it with the chief judge and then it was just about setting up a date and making sure everybody showed up. my gosh. So you said the jury was made up of your family and friends, right? my gosh. And did you have any idea? Zero. Zero? And I like to think that I'm pretty perceptive. Yeah. Now, hindsight is 20s, right? I think back and like there's obvious signs that I missed completely.
Of course. So I had left the state attorney's office at that point. I was in private practice and I remember telling Brandon, I will still come and watch your trials, but I can't watch all of them. So you have to pick and choose the ones that are important. And this one, he said, it's going to start after lunch on this particular date. And he's like, I want you to come and watch my opening. I'm trying different things. I mean, he didn't need me to watch his opening, but I didn't think about that at the time. Of course, I had a dentist appointment that morning.
I remember I was not having the greatest morning and I remember texting him like, I may not make it. He's like, please, please try to make it. I didn't know. I was going to a couple minutes late. I was going to bring my laptop so I can keep working. Should I just continue? Yeah. So I remember I got to the courthouse. I'm like frazzled, dentist, sweating, the whole thing, full suit.
So I remember walking in and I saw, I think it was your assistant. Yeah, her assistant downstairs at the elevators. And I'm like, hey, what are you doing here? And she's like, I have to bring up a file for somebody. Maybe she said Brandon or Brandon's co-chair. And I was like, I can bring it up for you. She's like, no, no, I got it. I'll just write up and maybe I can want some of the trial. She's like, I'm trying to catch this proposal. Didn't think any, little did I know. She texted, like, she's in the elevator. Like, didn't know.
So then we get up to the floor and then we see a friend of ours and I'm like, hey, and she's so happy to see me. I'm happy to see her. I don't see each other as much because I've left the state and little did I know she's on the floor is what the text message. brain is trying to trial. Let's go in. We'll all go and watch was kind of the thing. none the wiser. mean, we all go and watch each other's trials all the time. I was about to pull out my laptop when the judge said, okay, judges coming out. and then all rise because the jury was coming back in. Gratefully, I didn't take out my laptop.
The girlfriend that I'd seen on the floor was sitting behind me filming the whole time. my goodness. So I remember when we stood up, everyone comes in. The first thing I remember thinking, I see Brandon's dad. Even though my sister comes in, my dad comes in, I see Brandon's dad. And the first thing I think is like, that looks like Jeff.
It was Jeff. Why is Jeff here? Even though all of that was happening, I'm still thinking like, this is a trial. So I have to be quiet. It's a trial. I'm laughing, I'm crying, but mostly crying. And like, I'm trying to cry quietly because even though I'm kind of realizing what's happening, it's still a trial. I have to be respectful in the courtroom. Yeah. You're kind of like confused. You still think that's what's going on. something's going on, but you're like, not going to be the one to be like,
Okay, I'll go up and walk up there. Totally. Hey family. Totally. Like everyone had their phones out. Yeah. Did not click over. my God. So how did you go about like, I don't know this story. I've never heard this story before. I got up and I asked the judge if I could have give my opening statement. I got up and I gave a quick speech about, you know, love and very nice things and asked Jen to step into the well of the courtroom. And then I proposed and she said yes. And which is great.
Thank you. And the judge at the end said, Mr. Dinitz, I sentence you to life. So the video, I put the video on YouTube so that my grandmother would be able to share it with friends of hers. The video got traction and went viral. And it went all over the place. was on the news, it was in different countries, it was
a lot of fun. And it was mostly just my grandmother getting to see herself on TV sitting in the jury box was like what all the fun was because like we getting to be on TV is cool. But like that wasn't what our we didn't care about that. We cared like that. My grandmother who you know watched World News Tonight for however many years the show was on. It gets to see the back of her head on the news. So she was all excited about that. And it went viral. It was
Awesome. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Well, one of the takeaways is she was FaceTiming Brandon's sister and not quietly. She just says in her voice, can you see? And now Brandon and I say that all the time. That's so funny. And it's so cute that you guys have an inside joke from your proposal. That's so funny. We have, we have a bunch. We have a, know we have a picture of the proposal from the news that went viral here. Yeah.
You look so shook. Like you can see it in your your face. I I watched the video. I was like, this is so cute. But I didn't see the part with your whole speech. I only saw the part with like you guys hugging and it's on it's on YouTube. If you just fake trial proposal. Yeah. It's not a trial proposal. DUI trial proposal. There's one of the links is called sentence to life. Okay. And
A lot of people in the comments got upset about that. Yeah. were anticipating somebody actually getting sentenced to life. Yeah. No, it's not sentenced to life. It's just getting proposed. Yeah. Getting married. Because now we're a meme. Are you really? Yeah. There's all the lawyer accounts. Every like year or so, like every surfaces, which is kind of fun. And I've got different friends, especially new friends from that year will like send it to me. That's like, this you? Yeah, I'm kind of famous. It was six years ago and a baby ago and two dogs ago. Whatever.
But sometimes it comes up like Azamine that's like sentence to life and then the sad face and their sad music and it's like, no, no. Like we're good. That's really funny. It's clever. I like the sentence to life. Yeah. That's thanks to the judge. Yeah. That was, mean, even at the end, I'm like, is there a trial going on? Cause I didn't, I still didn't connect that there was no trial. Yeah. But Brandon needed to make clear to all the people commenting that no taxpayer dollars were used.
Fair. well I didn't want to hear it, especially from the public defenders. I did not need to hear that I was... Fair. Those are your things. Yeah, using all the government money. Like that's not what I was doing. Yeah, even though you could have easily done it on like your lunch break, that's fair. I definitely make sense why you went about it the right way. Government dollars were hurt. None at all. No, no What is it? I don't know. Whatever. I was going to try to say something clever, but didn't really...
So we got married, had, we have two dogs, we have a baby. A baby. And we, yeah, very, everything after the proposal went well. Yeah. Wedding went well. Still crushing. Yeah, still, still carrying, chugging along. We'll be together nine years this year, married four. I love that. I implies. Yes, it does. Cause I feel like I'm still at the state attorney's office. Really?
I some I mean, you're like your relationship with like time like how how has it been nine years like I'm a baby lawyer I'm still I mean we say all the time it was the best job you ever had like yeah if I won the lottery that I don't play I would donate the salary that I'm not gonna win cuz I play and go back Yeah, cuz it was the most fulfilling and fun job. Yeah, I feel that way about the PD's office, too Yeah, yeah, definitely and and it's like you can't beat that like
It's an actual nine to five. You get great benefits. You have great camaraderie, you know, people to hang out with all the time. Like you're all kind of like-minded individuals in the same like time of your life. Yeah. Like everybody's just in the same season. So I'm like, what we used to say is I mean, you get to wear the white hat. We got, we had discretion in Palm Beach. So if I didn't think that the charges matched what actually happened, I can amend it. Yeah. if
you know, whatever the circumstances was, if I had a very good PD or criminal defense attorney on the other side that presented a really strong case, like I could change what was going forward. wasn't just, just because the police said this, then we have to go forward on that. I mean, and vice versa. If I think it wasn't charged heavy enough, I would. So it was a very rewarding and fulfilling job in that way. Yeah, for sure. And it definitely like, I don't know, I always think about it. Like it's nice to have prosecutors that are willing to like,
listen to the defense attorney at least because whenever you have like those people that are like, you know, I have to run it by my supervisor. And if that's their office policy, it's their office policy. Obviously, like there's nothing we can do about it. But I hate that because it's like it takes away from the purpose or the role of a prosecutor. Like they are supposed to have discretion. That's really great to hear because obviously I didn't have cases with you, but it's nice to hear that you actually, you know, listen to other people.
But I did, the first time I did hear your name was when I was in a courtroom with Brandon, because he was my first opponent. That's what I said on our first episode. he talked so highly of you. And I just heard how much of a badass you are, how you're involved in everything. You're such a great lawyer, all these things. And I was like, I need to meet this girl. First of all, I love how highly he's speaking about you. And I think I've told you this before. But that's.
for me, was like, what, like, where, like, where is she? You know, because you were not, I'm like, I need a Jentanets in my life. That's why I locked her up. yeah. Oh, obviously you're a founder of your own law firm, but you also are involved in a lot. like, tell us about kind of just like your transition from criminal to civil and you know, you're about how you run your firm and all those.
Great things. Sure. after I was at the state shy of four years. Okay. And I think typically if, I mean, everyone's story is different, but typically if you're not going to stay at the state attorney's office or the government job full time for the rest of your life as a career prosecutor, which I wasn't sure if I had aspirations to do, but I also knew I couldn't afford to necessarily say. Yeah. You stay between three to five years or so. That's typically how goes. So I,
leaving the state, I eventually fell into a personal injury. And I thought that that was a very straightforward path because I'm essentially prosecuting in the civil arena. So unlike at the state where you had victims that obviously an officer charges somebody with a crime and there's a victim with it necessarily, I have clients, but they are victims of their circumstances. They're injured by someone or something else. There's a negligence aspect to it. And then we're going after
those that were responsible for that negligence. So we're going after those that are responsible for the injury of that person. So I still get to wear the white hat. And likewise, if I don't think that this person has a viable case, I'm not bringing it. If I don't think that this person, this defendant is on the hook or should be liable for the injuries that were caused, I'm not suing them. But if I do think I am suing and I'm going after them. So it's a very straightforward correlation.
they say from the state to practicing personal injury. So after I was practicing for six, seven years in the civil field, another lawyer at my firm and I left just this January and started our own firm. So we now have ND Injury Law Firm in Palm Beach Gardens. And it has been the best professional six years of my life besides the fourth estate where I met my husband.
We are busy, which I'm grateful to say. have a lot of clients that either joined us after leaving the last firm or clients that have referred their friends to us, their family members to us. We have a lot of referring attorneys. So other attorneys in the community that will speak to a client. The client says, I'm injured because of XYZ or something has happened and I don't know what to do. And they'll say, you should call Jen or you should call my partner, Shana. So we...
gratefully are very busy six months in. Amazing. Thank you. I love that. Yeah. So it's cool. Yeah. It's hard and challenging. Yeah. But so rewarding being your own boss. Yeah. Especially being a mom. Yeah. I was going to ask you, how do you do it all? Like, how do you manage everything? It's a lot. Yeah. It's a lot. A lot of, you have to have a very supportive husband because obviously I love him, but he's also my best friend. Yeah. He's been my best friend for nine years. Yeah. And because we had that strong foundation, I mean,
A couple of weeks ago, I was at trial certain in middle of August, it settles. But I text him like, I'm gonna have to be in Orlando for five days. And he's like, go get them. And because I get it, we're both trial And of course, that's a hard decision to make. But at the same time, there is no decision. This is my job. didn't go to law school and I didn't work as hard as I did. And I am to be a stay at home mom. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Arguably a much more challenging job than running your own firm. Absolutely being a stay-at-home mom but It is a I mean I've Shane and I say all the time. We both have two full-time jobs Yeah, so we are lawyers and business owners But we're also moms and it's not like I can go to work and stop being a mom No, I can be home with my son and stop being a lawyer. Yeah, you just you
You make it work. Yeah. Not only just like stopping a lawyer, but you're running a business. Like that's another job on top of lawyering. Like you, don't know. find just having my own firm. have to like, I have to manage my day between business owner and lawyer. Like what am I doing today? You know, or what is this meeting for? So some days I have my days where I'm like, if I had a kid today, I would actually probably throw myself off a building. only reason I would say you wouldn't.
It's because that kid because the kid like it honestly it forces me to stop yeah, because I mean he's 21 months or and I don't I don't we're trying to stay away from Face Screen time right now, so I try not to be on my phone as much in front of him But we were very big proponents of the Apple Watch because if I have an email come through a text come through a phone call come through like I got to get up and
Brandon too. So oftentimes we're both playing with our son and then one of us gets a call and now I'm on duty and you're out in the other room calling a client or calling referring attorney or whatever it may be. So it does make you stop. It makes you like at least temporarily. So you stop yourself from throwing off said building because you're playing blocks, coloring. You're not worrying about the stresses. love that you guys like make sure you have time like with Jackson. Like it's so important.
So like, I don't know, I just think it's like that you guys are like minimizing screen time, coloring, like whatever it is, like you're so intentional. And then like if, things come up, it's fine, but you guys are like kind of like tag teaming too. So it's like a true partnership. Like this is how it should be. That's the way that it should be done. Yeah. I don't know how people do it if they don't have the partnership. So many people do. I'm like, yeah, single parents. That's, that's, that's difficult. I couldn't imagine. Do you guys have a shared calendar? Funny you say, no.
Do we have a shared calendar? We were looking at that. We were looking at one of those things you could put on the wall that's like a digital... They have the digital ones. Yeah. So I was thinking, was like, you guys are like already, it sounds like you guys are already doing what you're supposed to. I mean, I wouldn't know, but... I get a lot of calendar and you send me a lot of calendar invites. Exactly. So... You sent her one for today. Yeah, well, we to make sure we were all where we needed to be. I think I sent you a couple just this morning. I'll have to check those when I get home. She's like, I have not received a response yet. I'll check those when I get out of here.
one other, another thing that, you know, you are a leader of multiple organizations, talk about how important it is to be out in the community and networking and, you know, building your reputation in addition to building your brand. That's a big loaded question. so your reputation is all you have in any field for, for sure. But certainly as a lawyer, I mean, if, if, if someone says my name,
there's a certain feeling that's going to be emoted from that or that if someone's talking about me or here's my last name or whatever, here's my new firm, you're going to have a feeling based upon my interactions with you or what other people's reactions interactions have been with me. we, mean, Shane and I, we are not on billboards. We're not on bus stops. We're not, we don't have commercials and we don't plan to because the great majority of our business is from referring attorneys and word of mouth. And the only way that we
have those relationships with referring attorneys or word of mouth helps us is by networking and getting out there. So it's one incredibly important for business development, but also, as you were saying, you can always learn. So you learn by watching other people on trial. You learn by hearing other people's war stories. So the more elbows I rub, the more people I interact with, the more I'm learning from them because they're such a great, great
arena of lawyers, specifically in Palm Beach County, specifically with personal injury. If I have a question, if I say, I know that there is a case out there that says X, but I can't remember it, I have a large rolodex of people that I can reach out to. But I've only developed that rolodex because of the different organizations. So I got involved with the FALL, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers in Palm Beach. I'm the incoming president of the Palm Beach County Justice Association, which is the
plaintiff's bar locally. I'm on the solo and small firm committee for the Florida Justice Association, which is the statewide plaintiff's bar. And there's the new Jewish law student, not student, that was back in law school and going back there, the Jewish Law Lawyers Association in Palm Beach County. I'm trying to get involved with that because that's a brand new organization. I used to say yes to everything.
And I've learned in the last couple of years, especially since our son joined us to say no, because my time is very precious now. Because if I'm going to spend time away from my son, it has to be worth it. Yeah. I was just talking about this. Everything is cost benefit analysis. if this is going to take you away from your family or from your son, it needs to pay. You know what I mean? Or it needs to like come back in some sort of maybe not money pay, but in a way that's like you're going to benefit or it's going to actually be constructive to.
your brand, your business, the community. for sure, like you definitely need to be able to say no to certain things. Because every time you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. And you don't want that something else to be your family or your son. Because then that's when things go, I guess, sideways sometimes.
It's funny, no has been like one of the hardest words for me to learn. where it's like Jackson's favorite word. Yeah. No. from my 20 month year old. Yeah. I year old, 20 month old. Well, I mean, I think one of the things that transcends being a lawyer and being a prosecutor and being a civil attorney, the human side and interacting with the victims or interacting with people that need help.
which is the same thing that we do. You're interacting with people that are in their worst positions and need help and guidance and advice and, you know, ultimately you're gonna be the person that's gonna fix what they're going through. So the human side is so important.
That said, how do you prevent some of that from taking a toll on your personal life? It's very challenging. Like what do you do? Like how do you do it? I'll let you know. I mean, I think actively and like purposefully trying to shut off when I get home. I do like to leave my phone on the counter. I try to encourage my husband sometimes to leave his phone on the counter. Not as successful. But...
Jackson helps a lot because that's good for my clients here because I'm always reachable. My phone is always on call BD log. And don't worry if he doesn't wake up from the phone ringing. will. then right. So I don't miss it. I will not miss a call in the middle of the night. Honestly, Jackson helps me a lot, which I, I can't, I'm not going to give the advice for people to have children just for this reason, but
He doesn't care that I had a hard day. He doesn't care that I have a challenging client or a very injured client that's really weighing on me. I mean, we represented families that have had situations happen to them that are no different than my family. And it's just luck that I wasn't in the car that day or I wasn't at that facility that day or that those situations didn't happen to us. And it's very, very hard not to let those intrusive thoughts come in. But when I'm sitting coloring with Jackson.
He doesn't know that he's on the wiser. So I'm present. then likewise, it's much more difficult when I'm just spending time with you because we've talked about work. We talk like it's, was your day? And then we start talking about it. then it's because we're both lawyers, even though we're doing in different fields, I understand your arena, you understand mine. So I may talk about something that you don't have personal experience with, but you certainly understand it. So you're going to ask me more questions and what have you. So it's a little bit more challenging. We have to be.
intentionally purposeful to shut it down. So it's not easy. But I guess the other thing, I don't do it as much, but I used to do a lot was workout. Because especially if I'm lifting weights, I cannot be focused on anything else or I'm going to get hurt. So that's been great. used to run a lot. To add to the list of accolades, a former and completed New York City marathon runner. Cool. I love that. I ran a 5K and I thought it was the hottest shit ever. It was badass. was badass.
It was cool. That is bad. Did you run the whole time? I ran the whole time. yeah. What was your time? Not that I know anything about that. Not impressive. Certainly impressive. Four hours, but I don't remember the exact time. That's amazing. What made you do that? So my sister-in-law, actually, Brandon's sister, Harley. She ran marathons. So she ran has run three. You just have badass women in your life. That's it. I'm just surrounded by badass women. She ran one year and we all went up to watch it. And like, it is so fun.
like running around the city to try to find the runner. But the whole family is like, this is the most fun day. And for me, I'm like, I want to be doing that. And so I told her, like, let's do it together next year. And we did. It was awesome. She came down to visit me. I remember we ran 18, 20 miles together. Yeah. my God. That is so inspiring. It was awesome. And the only reason why I didn't do her third year was I just had, I didn't just- You were pregnant. No, no, no. You were just about to have the baby. Yeah. You would have just had-
Jackson. So not really in peak marathon running shape. Yeah. Yeah. But it was very, very... Yeah, but still that's so cool. Yeah. So that was another thing. Like it was a very healthy escape. When I would go running, I'd put an audio book on or a podcast and I would just lose myself. Wow. Yep. That's so cool. I need to like train for a marathon now. It helps you shut down. Sorry, I can't show up to come back with a warrant. I'll be running.
Yeah, that's easy. I'll be just single host, single parenting the show. my God, that's so funny. Yeah. But that's pretty impressive. for me, I do run and I work out for my escape. So I guess this is your reminder now that you're not immediately post-baby. Yeah. To get out there. With all of my free time. Yes. With all of the committees and all of the Jackson events and then work.
Sometimes I'll like have just like a like a bad day or a bad moment even like just like I just got off a really annoying like meeting or whatever and I just like You know what? I'm just gonna go outside and put my like stand in the grass and like take my shoes off and just like do some grounding like I'll take five ten minutes and I'll just try to like actually Get my like self together because I'm like if I move on to the next thing There's going to be like some collateral. That's amazing. You could do that. Yeah, no, but that's because I'm like I'm like get me out of here
It's amazing that it works for you. Like running is probably the closest I can get to meditation because the idea of actively sitting there and not thinking it's hard is exhausting. Yeah, it's so hard. You have to really force it. Yeah, but I'd rather think about everything. but when you're trying I don't know I guess for me it's also like I'm trying to escape it so it's yeah, I guess sure thing that I'm doing but get me out of here, but it's healthy. Yeah, that's what avoiding is healthy. Yeah, it's definitely healthy when we need to get away from our
Craziness sometimes a lot of craziness. So I guess something to to talk about here While we're talking about accolades of yours there was a Famous case that you had. my god that I want to bring up Now while you were a prosecutor, I'm sure you remember this because I told you we would talk about it so if not that much for surprise but
When you were a prosecutor in 2016, you had a special case that is a typical Florida man style case. was the most Florida case I've ever even heard. Tell us what happened in 2016. First, tell us what your position was with the state attorney's office at that point, and then tell us what the case was. Sure. So I was in misdemeanor court and there was a
position where only one attorney was also, in addition to their full caseload, was also handling all the Florida fish and wildlife cases. And the attorney that was in that role was actually a friend of mine, actually a mentor of mine. And he encouraged me to go for the position or go out for that position when he was promoted to felony. And one of the big perks of it, which is why I accepted, is that you have cases in front of every judge. So this was an opportunity that I can meet every judge, go in every courtroom, see my boyfriend in a different courtroom.
And, um, you. Anybody did not know. was me. So I took it on. And one of the first cases that I got was, I think it was like a 23 year old guy from Jupiter, maybe lock, Sahatchee area that he found a, um, like a two to three foot Gator. It's three feet. When he found this Gator, he was out with his buds, found this Gator and instead of just letting it be picked it up, brought it, put it into his pickup.
I remember he went to a gas station to fill up and you can see the Gator moving in the gas station footage. And he had all the windows up and then they went to Wendy's as one does. And for whatever reason, he took as he's ordering food, drinks, whatever. And the person working at Wendy's in the drive-through had their back towards them. He threw the Gator into the Wendy's. She screamed like you hear it on the footage.
She screamed and then she jumped out of the window to escape. this video is... threw a three foot alligator in through the drive-through window at Wendy's. Honestly, I literally, I couldn't believe it when... we... It's so Florida. It hurts. We were... And I was like, the fact that this man, he definitely grew up in Moxahatchee probably or something. Because like... 90%, who does that? Where are you going to grab, like, first of all, why are you not scared of grabbing a random gator?
No, he didn't tape the thing's mouth either. No, not- I saw that! saw that on the-
However long he had that alligator in his car, and we have the picture, we do have the picture of it, that is from the Wendy's. Big gator. Three feet is not a Three is not small. But it's... I mean, a four-foot gator would have been too large for me. Yeah. I mean, I see a lizard and I cross Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. And the fact that it fit through the drive-through window and the way he just threw it in there. Yeah. Like, I don't know. I had so many questions, like, about this.
So did I, and I prepped the case as if we were going to trial. I mean, you do that for every case. I mean, I went to Bush Wildlife Sanctuary and started speaking with the specialist there that he was going be my expert to talk about how alligators function and how they are. So when they're aggravated, that they're more prone to attack. I was ready. And then he wanted to take a plea deal. Of course. But at the time, I didn't know that. I was like, I'm going to cross this guy. I was correct. You had all the questions listed up.
And then he did take a plea deal. Yeah, take a plea deal. fortunately we were in front of a judge that happens to be like a huge animal lover. my gosh. And I remember he sentenced him quite extensively for, I mean this guy had no history. Yeah. No one got hurt. Yeah. It shouldn't be prosecuted to the max. Yeah.
But it was still the what ifs were to die and because this judge was like, you do not harm animals. He got a pretty, I think it was like 24 months of probation. was something that- gosh. And he was charged with a felony too, right? I think it was like No, was- I think it- I think it was a felony but Okay, but I think it reduced down to- Oh. He pled to a misdemeanor. Okay. It almost hurt. Right, right. it was charged appropriately. Right, right. But my claim to fame, which I remember was framed in my office for some time, I was a jeopardy question. Oh my god.
Jeopardy had a Florida man, Florida man tweets, I think category. And that one of the questions was about that thing. How did it feel to be a trivia question? mean, what was the question? It was asking like what state this happened in. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It asked. It was asking what the animal was. OK, OK. And it was very clear it was Florida. And it was like this. You know, somebody threw this through a drive through window. Yeah. What is it?
And it's like an alligator. Yeah. Oh my God. That's so funny. That is crazy. $200 question. It was a $200 question? Go us. Kind of easy question. it is. Yeah. I would think that's a pretty good question. So in our last segment that we have with you, we want to do a bit of a lightning round and just ask you a few quick questions. And then we'll send you on your merry way for the day where you can go take on everything else.
Why not, Monica, why don't you start us off? Yeah. So these are rapid fire questions. Coffee or wine?
Both? Am I allowed to say that? Yeah, I guess. I wine. Wine, I wake up and I'm up. I enjoy coffee, like, yes, when I wake up as soon as my contacts are in, like, let's go. Amazing. Your contacts are your coffee. But you need wine to wind down. I don't need it. I really like Yeah, you like it. Sorry. I remember when we, when I was pregnant, we were pregnant, please, when I was pregnant.
The thing that we missed the most was not just drinking the wine, but like enjoying wine together. Yeah. Like that was what I missed the most and that was like the highlight of after Jackson was born. Yeah, he's born. Let's have a bottle of wine together. They do have also alcohol-free wines. I don't understand. I don't understand that alcohol-free wine, alcohol-free beer and decaf coffee, all the same to me. I would not put decaf coffee in They're the same things to me.
So what do you do? What are you am a fan of decaf. You're a fan of decaf After like 6 p.m. if I want a cappuccino, I just like the flavor of coffee. I like the flavor of the creamer. Oh, okay. All right. That makes sense. So our next one is best parenting hack. She's like, I'm still figuring it out. No, I'm just kidding. right? I mean, the hack is like, I've learned how to parent from Instagram.
Go on TikTok, go on Instagram. and my friends that have babies that are six months older than Jackson, they tell me like, okay, what you're going through is normal. I that's the best part. Yeah, that's good. Is having a good, it takes a village to raise a kid. And if you have really good friends like you do that are raising kids and they're raising kids the right way. Yeah.
That's the best parenting hack is take the advice from them. Yeah, especially if they have older kids. They've been through it. But also like normalizing the crazy. Yeah, something weird happens on like this is like what the heck just happened. Yeah, and then I send a video or something to my friend. She's like, it's fine. Just another day in the life. It's another day. Yeah, they grew out of it. Don't worry. But it's like good to like hear that because it's like validating sometimes you're like is my kid f'd up. Do I have the weird kid?
Jackson bit a kid the other day and his chin and like literally the teachers were laughing about it because everyone was fine. Yeah. And I'm like, what the heck? You're like disturbed. Do I have the bad kid? And then they're like, no, he's just trying to like kiss the kid or whatever. And then my friend's like, no, he grows out of it. Yeah. my gosh. That is a good hack. But save the incident report for the baby book. Trial song walk up if trials had an intro music.
I had a mediation walk up for a while. was Collard Greens by Q... What's that? Q something? Boy. Yeah, that was a great, great That's your walk up. That's your... And there was a long time that Post Malone just like got me where I needed to go. And that would pump you up. That's how you're to get ready for a cross examination. Like a solid one. I would listen to those songs. Like either Post or that Collard Greens. I can't remember who sang it. It's a great, great song. We'll link it in the show notes.
Shout out to Collard Greens. right. What's one law you changed today?
I mean, that can, we can go on for a while. There's a lot of laws that in the personal injury world that are not as favorable. Yeah. Would kind of stay away from tort reform that is happening now, but that's getting a little, little serious. guess. I don't know. That's a, that's a heavy question too. That's a little heavy. Yeah. And I don't want to get some What's one law that you would, what's one? Change anything favorable to insurance companies. I'm just kidding. We'll keep it there. Yeah, we can go there.
Fair. It came out of my mouth, not yours. It's okay. Fair enough. She's like, second that. I think that's all we have. Yeah. Well, with that, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for having It was awesome. so much, This was great. And I love you and I will see you at home. And yeah, thank you. And if you've been injured, you can contact. Yeah, any. And he said it was. For all of your civil needs. Contact Jen.
That would be the smartest thing to do. We'll put Jen's information in the show notes and the- And the injury law firm. And the injury law firm in Palm Beach Gardens. Right. And shout out to your partner, Shaina. Yep. Very cool. And yeah, that's it. And make sure you like, subscribe, follow. Come back with a Warrant pod on all platforms. That's it. And if you don't like it, come back with a warrant.