Ranching, Fishing, & Fatherhood: A Conversation with Julian C. Gomez

In this episode, Brian Beckcom speaks with rancher, Olympic weightlifter, and autonomous vehicle expert/attorney Julian Carlos Gomez. They talk about Julian's life growing up as a rancher, the foreseeable dangers self-driving cars pose to the public, and Julian shared invaluable "pearls of wisdom" to help us all advance in our personal and professional lives. 

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They discuss:

• Julian's experience working as a rancher in South Texas where he learned diligence and resourcefulness at the early age of seven
• The psychological phenomenon of loss aversion bias and the importance of "fighting to fight another day"
• How Julian can operate like a five-hundred person law firm as a solo practitioner 
• The mental make-up of those who say "I didn't know I couldn't"
• How manufacturers of autonomous vehicles are attempting to baselessly promise safety to communities in return for legal immunities 
• Advice for entrepreneurs and professionals on how to effectively collaborate with teammates remotely 
• And other topics

Julian C. Gomez is a South Texas native, A&M Alumnus, and founder of the Julian C. Gomez Law Firm in McAllen, Texas. Julian's resourcefulness and expertise in automotive product liability law have enabled him to take on some of the largest companies in the world, in some of the most complex, expensive, and convoluted litigations out there and has done so largely as a solo practitioner. Julian uses his talents as an attorney to make his client's live better. To learn more about his law firm or to connect with Julian, visit his website at www.JCGLF.com. 

Read the show notes

[00:00:00] Brian Beckcom: [00:00:00] Brian Beckcom at VB attorneys here. I've got, uh, one of my closest friends, long time friends who, Julian C. Gomez, uh, who, and how you doing today?

[00:00:10] Julian Gomez: [00:00:10] I'm doing wonderful. How are you doing Brian?

[00:00:12] Brian Beckcom: [00:00:12] I'm doing good. So, so thanks for being on the podcast. I really, really appreciate it. Uh, I know you're a busy guy and you're in demand for a lot of different reasons.

[00:00:21] Uh, Not the least of which is your legal skills, but before we get into talking about, uh, what you do as a lawyer and some of those things, can you, uh, and I've already introduced to you a little bit, but can you just tell our listeners a little bit about who you are, where you come from, what you do, things of that nature.

[00:00:42] Julian Gomez: [00:00:42] Absolutely. Thank you very much for having me, Brian, I'm honored to visit with you. Uh, you are one of my closest and dearest friends, and I feel the same way about you and thank you. Mmm I'm from South Texas, uh, with my daughter, we've been down here [00:01:00] for about 10 generations. My family came, uh, from Spain in the Canary islands around 1740, and we had been ranching in South Texas ever since.

[00:01:09] And, and I mentioned that because that's really a big part of who I am, but, uh, I'm a lawyer down here. I mainly do automotive product liability work and then any kind of catastrophic personal injury. Um, but beyond that, the thing that I'm probably most proud of is that, uh, I think of a damn good son and a damn good father

[00:01:32] Brian Beckcom: [00:01:32] know, uh, one of the things I've always admired about you.

[00:01:37] Uh, my, my father was a single father. My mother passed away when I was 10. So he had to raise my father. He had to re raise my brother and I by himself. And I I've seen you raise Avery as a single father. And man, I tell you what she is. Uh, she is a heck of a kid. She just got an a and M didn't she,

[00:01:56] Julian Gomez: [00:01:56] she did.

[00:01:58] Brian Beckcom: [00:01:58] So, so not only, you're not only [00:02:00] are you a full time practicing lawyer, a competitive. Power lifter, power of Olympic lifter,

[00:02:07] Julian Gomez: [00:02:07] right?

[00:02:08] Brian Beckcom: [00:02:08] Olympic lifting. Yeah. We'll, we'll talk about that a little bit. Uh, Olympic weightlifter. You're also world-class carbon fishermen. Um, and you're, you're a great guy. We're all. So you've got quite a resume, but tell, tell us a little bit about, so 10 generations of Gomez is in South Texas.

[00:02:25] Tell us a little bit about, um, how growing up in South Texas or growing up in the family, you did have that influence. Uh, the way you look at the world now?

[00:02:36] Julian Gomez: [00:02:36] Well, um, I can't really remember a time. Well, I was born in Dallas, my dad's a surgeon and we came back to South Texas when I was right before I turned seven years old.

[00:02:52] I cannot remember a time since I was seven or we came back to South Texas and I haven't had to have a [00:03:00] job. Yeah. And, uh, from shining shoes to washing cars, to pumping gas, to working in a grocery store, a bicycle shop. But I really spent the vast majority of my time as a kid working at the ranch. And, um, maybe some people might've complained about it or something, but, uh, I loved it.

[00:03:20] Yeah. And, uh, I got to spend time with my grandparents, um, and, and. And my grandfather in particular, my paternal grandfather's name was Papa. Um, we'd spend our days bouncing around in the truck and he was always trying to teach me something and, and those lessons are always anchored by little sane or, or a Detroit.

[00:03:43] We would call him a Pearl of wisdom. And it's funny that at 46 lessons learned at seven, eight, nine, 10 years old. Really have formed the cornerstone of my life. And I think they probably for the cornerstone of my daughter's life.

[00:04:00] [00:04:00] Brian Beckcom: [00:04:00] Yeah. Yeah. So when, when we were talking about that a little bit, before we went on the air, actually there's a, there's a saying, it sounds much better in Spanish, but you actually put one of those things in mind, clear contracts, make good friendships.

[00:04:14] And so it really is remarkable how, how those. Those kinds of things that you hear from your parents or your grandparents or people that influence you when you're young, they really, really do stick in your head, uh, essentially your whole life, I think. So tell us what you talk about working on the ranch.

[00:04:32] What was it like for those of us city slickers that don't know much about ranches and things of that nature? What was it like? What, like, what were you doing? Is it kid. Out on a ranch. I mean, I, you know, some of us have this picture in our mind of maybe like city slickers and Billy crystal and stuff like that, but what was it actually like to work a ranch in South Texas as a kid, especially during the summer?

[00:04:58] Julian Gomez: [00:04:58] Well, uh, [00:05:00] yep. It was hot, but, but I don't think it was as hot then as it is now, but it was definitely hot, but it didn't matter. Right. It really didn't matter. You'd wake up early. Um, and you would drive to the ranch. Mmm. A big part as a kid, your responsibility would be stuff like opening up Gates, right.

[00:05:24] And so, uh, to get into your actual, the land there's fences, and you have Gates and you go from one pasture to another pasture, to another pasture. And so your job a lot of times is to open up Gates and, and your days consistent. Of a few things, right? You have to make sure that the animals have water.

[00:05:44] There's no water, then it's not good for the animals. You got to make sure the animals have food and you should only have so many animals on your land that they could just eat the grass and you don't really have to feed them or [00:06:00] supplement them. But because it was hot and dry, a lot of times that didn't happen.

[00:06:05] And you could train your cattle to be nicer. So you feed them with they're called Mascaro or little range, cubes or cake, and you put them in a five gallon bucket. You'd shake them up. And the cattle come just like a dog trainer. Uh, but so you'd spend your day. You'd wake up, you check the water, you make sure the fences are all right, feed the cattle.

[00:06:24] And then inevitably something is always broken. It's always broken. And so you spent your day having to fix whatever was broken, whether it was a fence, it was a water pump, um, some kind of generator, a windmill, uh, whatever it may be, you spent. The rest of your morning, trying to fix that. Mmm. And that's where I feel like a lot of my resourcefulness came out.

[00:06:51] Um, so let's say there was a busted pipe, right? So now if you had a busted pipe, you'd call the plumber. Right? Well, I know how to fix a busted pipe, but I [00:07:00] don't need to call a plumber. Yeah. And sometimes we'll, maybe you didn't have the fitting to replace it. So you might take an inner tube, for example. And wrap that around the pipe, very, very tightly, and then wrap that inner tube with wire.

[00:07:15] And that would keep the water in there. And that would be good enough to keep it working for another month or two before you could. We had to replace it with, with the right stuff, that those would do that. And then in ranching, what you sell. These cattle. Yeah. Or stakes really are they come from an animal and that was the flood stuff.

[00:07:39] Working capital is fine

[00:07:40] Brian Beckcom: [00:07:40] working. Cattle's fine. Yeah. Let me ask you this question. So, so, so when I was in high school, I worked, I had two jobs. One of my jobs, I worked as a dishwasher for a summer at a restaurant. And the other job I had was it used to be, the people would have these like [00:08:00] decorative rocks instead of grass in their front lawn.

[00:08:02] And so my job was in the middle of the summer when people decided they didn't want the rocks, they wanted a regular yard. My job, I would go in with a crew and literally shovel rocks out of people's yards in the middle of the summer. And I very tough work. And I'll tell you what it did it. I learned at a very young age that I wanted to work with this.

[00:08:23] Instead of this.

[00:08:25] Julian Gomez: [00:08:25] Right? So

[00:08:26] Brian Beckcom: [00:08:26] that's what, that, that's what that taught me. So I was going to ask you, like, uh, what, what working ranches in South Texas in the summer, when you're a young kid, what influences do you think that had on, uh, what you're doing now?

[00:08:42] Julian Gomez: [00:08:42] Well, so my dad did not let me have a job with air conditioning until I had a college degree.

[00:08:49] Brian Beckcom: [00:08:49] Really? Wow. Yeah.

[00:08:52] Julian Gomez: [00:08:52] Well, so we were both at ADA and we're both in the core. Right. Um, and, and so

[00:08:59] Brian Beckcom: [00:08:59] I guess [00:09:00] even when we were at ANM, you were still working, he worked all the way through college.

[00:09:05] Julian Gomez: [00:09:05] I did. So I was a welder and so I would sneak out of my window at night. I jumped out of the dorm. I go weld at night.

[00:09:14] And then I'd come back, sleep a little bit, do the core in the morning, go to class. And the next day

[00:09:21] Brian Beckcom: [00:09:21] I was always so jealous, cause you always had such nice stuff and you know, I was too dumb to figure out the reason you had. And I just worked hard for it.

[00:09:30] Julian Gomez: [00:09:30] I, well, I was high cotton back then. I was making $9 an hour.

[00:09:34] I thought that was. That was big time. Um, but going back in high school, uh, I welded, I took care of people's animals in the morning and the after school, I go to the ranch in the summertimes, uh, in junior high, I worked, uh, like I said, at a gas station outside filling gas. Uh, I remember complaining to my dad say, well, they won't hire me somewhere.

[00:09:57] He's like, I don't care if they pay you or not. Mmm. [00:10:00] It, it just made sure that I was outside working. And sweating so that I could appreciate this stuff. Yeah. And it worked out.

[00:10:12] Brian Beckcom: [00:10:12] And so you went, you went to ANM and you, you truly have a fascinating work history. I mean, I think you didn't, you work as a futures trader for a little bit.

[00:10:25] Julian Gomez: [00:10:25] Yeah. When I got out of college, I went to Chicago. An interesting story, I guess, somewhat in itself, but I was supposed to work for, uh, a company called Cargill and their meat department, which at the time was called Excel. Mmm. On the way to Chicago, my truck broke down and uh, I called him up and told him that, uh, I was, I guess, disabled, uh, per day or two.

[00:10:51] And they said, no problem. Uh, I showed up to Chicago for my job and they told me your job's gone. You give it to somebody else? I was [00:11:00] like, Oh, excuse me. I just rented an apartment, a parking space for my truck. Yeah. And thankfully, I ended up working for a company called Iowa grain and spent some times down there in the pits.

[00:11:11] Um, and that's gone. There's no more live trading, you know, where you saw that. So this would be you not selling it for right. You sell it at two and a half where you buy it two and a half. Right. This is six. Seven three. So I'm using the hand signal. This is, I'm buying it at seven and a half or buying it two and a half, just like in the movies.

[00:11:37] And so we did that, you know, buying, selling, um, but it's gone now. It's all done with computers and, and, and over the phone. And, but I did get an opportunity to work in a light pits. And, and learn again, some great lessons. Right? One of the, probably the best lesson that I learned on the pits was, Oh, [00:12:00] a lot of times people really commit to a certain position and they will fight to the death.

[00:12:06] Yeah. That's stupid. Yeah. Because what you do is you fight to be able to fight another day. Sure. The way, how the futures market works is if you have, let's say a, a thousand dollars and if. At the end of the day, if you lose right, you bought something that was worth a thousand at the end of the day, if it's worth 750, all you have is $750.

[00:12:30] Yeah. And if you had something that's worth, uh, 750, and now it's worth 500. Again, you lose those 250, and then you have something that's worth two 50, then it goes back and you can get negative where you've actually got a margin call and you've got to come up with money. And so that's really what the point is.

[00:12:53] Is you never want to deplete your bank where you have nothing left to fight. You always want to, if you're in a bad [00:13:00] position,

[00:13:00] Brian Beckcom: [00:13:00] get out. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's that's excellent. Excellent advice. I think there's, I've seen. It seems like a little bit of a mental phenomenon to people that they, they, they dig into any position, you know, whether you're a trader or whether it's a political position or a philosophical position, or even like a judge or a lawyer, uh, that, you know, they, the ability to change your mind when presented with new information and to abandon a position that you hold pretty strongly quickly as a superpower.

[00:13:33] Yeah,

[00:13:35] Julian Gomez: [00:13:35] look, we, we have, we we've been working together for quite some time and we done a lot of cases together. There's been multiple cases where we've started it. We thought it was wonderful to get into it. And we're like, we got to get out. We need to get our expenses. If we put a little bit of money in the clients, wonderful.

[00:13:51] If we make some money great. But this case is not what it is at that, that ability to. Not be wed [00:14:00] to a particular position. I feel like I really learned that in Chicago, it was a guy named bill Sapelo that taught me that. Yeah, he was a, he was a pork belly trader and he was like, you fight to fight another day.

[00:14:11] You never fight to the death. It's like, if you're in a bad position, get out, you're a good position. You let that ride. And that's, that's actually kind of counter how most people do it is that they're in a position and they did pretty well. So they get out. It's like, you sit in that one until, until it's done and they'll sit in bad positions and people and going back into it and back into it and back into it.

[00:14:33] It's like, no, get out. We won't have the next one.

[00:14:35] Brian Beckcom: [00:14:35] Yeah. And that's, you know, that's actually something that's been studied for a long time. The fear of loss is way more powerful than the joy of gain. And so people will literally given the exact same risk profile and the exact same odds they will bed, uh, that they, they will try to avoid loss much more than they will try to, uh, acquire gain.

[00:14:58] Because like I said, the [00:15:00] fear of loss is psychologically much more troubling, even if it's the exact. Same mathematical formula. Okay. So a super interesting background, but that gets us up to go to law school and on a

[00:15:15] Julian Gomez: [00:15:15] bet, I lost a bet.

[00:15:18] Brian Beckcom: [00:15:18] Tell us about that.

[00:15:19] Julian Gomez: [00:15:19] So I was in Chicago and so my grandfather, alright, so let's, let's, we're going back three generations now.

[00:15:27] Four, if you could pick up my daughter. So my grandfather, um, wanted to be a doctor. And my great grandfather was the vice president of the Allis national bank. Mmm. And the depression hit and he could not afford to keep my grandfather at the university of Texas. So we brought him home and my grandfather went to work for a man is a clothing store that he worked for when he was like four or five years old by.

[00:15:56] My great grandmother died in childbirth or during the influenza [00:16:00] actually wasn't childbirth. It was during the influenza pandemic, but so my, my grandfather started working at like four or five years old, but so my, my grandfather having come back from the depression, almost my dad wanted to be a doctor.

[00:16:16] It was definitely his calling, but he always would tell my dad that there was security in being a professional. And that  like means like, no matter how bad you are, you would always be able to make a living. And so my dad really kind of instilled that into me. He was like, look, yeah, if you want to be a trader, you can be a trader, just go get a law degree and come back.

[00:16:42] I had that horrible experience where I was a day late to getting to work the gay bar job to somebody else. There's no way that they would take me back. And he's like, well, I'll bet you. You ask him if they say yes, we'll pay for it. If not, I won't bug you about it again. Well, I went and asked my boss, his [00:17:00] name was Tom.

[00:17:00] Hey Tom. You know, I'm thinking about going to law school. If I go to law school, could I have my job back? He was like, yeah, absolutely. We'd love to have you right after law school,

[00:17:08] Brian Beckcom: [00:17:08] dad knows better.

[00:17:11] Julian Gomez: [00:17:11] So, you know, it just happened.

[00:17:14] Brian Beckcom: [00:17:14] Yeah. Well, good. So you, so, so you go to law school. Do you have any lawyers in the family or was this something that you had planned.

[00:17:22] Julian Gomez: [00:17:22] Mmm, it wasn't again, I hit, I thought I was going to become a doctor like my dad. Uh, I had the A's in organic chemistry there at Texas a and M and then I just kinda fell in love with Katelyn, with trading. That's really what I had wanted to do. And then my dad, um, That one was a tough way to make a business, make a living.

[00:17:47] And he saw that and I think he wanted me to have some security and then again, always having to have a job, uh, in law school, I fell in love with, with what we do now. Yeah. [00:18:00] It was just the right fit for me at the right time.

[00:18:04] Brian Beckcom: [00:18:04] So let's talk about, I want to shift just a little bit because you have one of what I consider to be one of the coolest.

[00:18:13] Legal practices in the country. I mean, you you're, you're essentially a, a solo practitioner, but it's not, it's almost like you have a three or 400 lawyer law firm because you take on literally some of the largest companies in the world in some of the most complex, expensive, convoluted litigation that is out there, including, you know, I think it's generally.

[00:18:42] Accepted that you are, if not the number one expert in the country, one of the top two or three experts in the country and autonomous vehicles, like, uh, self driving vehicles and stuff like that. So let's talk a little bit about it. And I think this is particularly [00:19:00] relevant nowadays. Uh, why were a lot of us were working from home?

[00:19:04] How, how were you able to set up a practice and South Texas? Um, that, that, that enables you to take on these massive cases, um, essentially as a solo practitioner, like how do you do that?

[00:19:23] Julian Gomez: [00:19:23] Mmm. I didn't know that I couldn't. Yeah. And that's probably, I mean, the answer. So I, law school, I clerked for a federal appellate court judge.

[00:19:34] And I interned for him in law school. And I knew that I wanted to have it on my resume, but he was older. And so I remember calling him up when he offered me the job. And I said, Hey, do you mind if I clerk for a federal district court judge? And he was like, yes, you can do it before you do mine. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:19:51] You're, you're you're first. Um, but when I finished with him, I went and did [00:20:00] some asbestos work for a little bit. Then I took this second courtship and that judge that I worked for when I took the oath in chambers and I walked into the courtroom, that was the tail end of the first Ford Explorer Firestone case in the country.

[00:20:16] Um,

[00:20:18] Brian Beckcom: [00:20:18] for people that may not people who may not be familiar with the Ford Firestone cases, just tell us briefly what, what that involves.

[00:20:28] Julian Gomez: [00:20:28] Sure. So the Ford Explorer, um, and the Firestone tire were sold, the tire was original equipment on the Ford Explorer in the nineties. Um, the Ford Explorer was part of the Bronco to platform.

[00:20:42] Uh, Ford worked with Firestone to develop a wilderness tire. And what wound up happening was the tread of the wilderness tire would come off. The Explorer would start bouncing and would lose stability. The vehicle would run over. And then fortunately [00:21:00] there was all kinds of problems within the vehicle.

[00:21:01] Like the seats, the roof, the seatbelts would last and, uh, folks would pass away or worse

[00:21:10] Brian Beckcom: [00:21:10] you that scares the heck out of me because I came into practice law rape kind of, kind of, kind of near the end of that, but I actually drove a Ford Explorer. In college for two years. And I found out, you know, six, seven years later, how dangerous those cars were like you had when you literally have no idea.

[00:21:30] Uh, some of the time about some of these products, we all use like how dangerous they really are because the manufacturers, Hey, don't say anything about it. So in any event you were clerking for the district judge and he was finishing up the Ford Firestone. And

[00:21:45] Julian Gomez: [00:21:45] so what I found and the case was fascinating.

[00:21:50] Right. That's how, I mean an auto product Clair. Right. But what fascinated me most about those, that particular case? First one was [00:22:00] that, that rollover that will ever happen in Mexico. Yeah. It was a us citizen, us purchased vehicle on vacation in Mexico. And that's where the rollover happened. And Mmm. So I spent the next year studying forum, non conveniens and choice of law.

[00:22:16] And, um, from working in law school, I had another friend that I've met, who had a similar case. He asked me if I wanted to do it. Mmm. I said, yeah, but my daughter who's sitting over there on the couch right now, laying down on the couch. She was this big we're living in an apartment. I had that blue ether.

[00:22:38] Okay. Let cable strung out all. She'd come crawling around. And um, I figured out a way to get that case. Finance went to the fifth circuit and, and one, right? Like just

[00:22:52] Brian Beckcom: [00:22:52] big deal. Big deal. Yeah.

[00:22:54] Julian Gomez: [00:22:54] But, but I didn't know that I couldn't do it. And that was my first [00:23:00] case. It was a double fatality D tread a rollover.

[00:23:03] And I just was like, Well, I can do this. I mean, this isn't that hard. Um,

[00:23:08] Brian Beckcom: [00:23:08] you didn't know enough to know you didn't know announce, right?

[00:23:11] Julian Gomez: [00:23:11] Exactly. That's exactly like, I didn't know that I couldn't do it, or I wasn't supposed to do that or should have been tried DWI cases first or anything else. I was just like, I'll take a double fake reality case.

[00:23:25] Brian Beckcom: [00:23:25] Spend a couple hundred thousand dollars problem.

[00:23:28] Julian Gomez: [00:23:28] Yeah, I mean, and so I did, I partnered with somebody else that financed the case for me. Uh, but, but that lawyer was nice enough. Uh, he assigned one of his associates to follow me and basically just make sure I didn't screw up. And she, uh, had known me for, for some time.

[00:23:46] And so she felt that I was competent enough. And so I just, I just did it.

[00:23:53] Brian Beckcom: [00:23:53] So let's talk a little bit about, in addition to, I want to talk about some of your work with autonomous or [00:24:00] self driving cars, but before we get to that, one of the things that. Uh, that, that you've always been able to do as a lawyer, which I've admired a lot is take risks, but they're, I mean, they're, they're calculated risks, but you're, you're not one of these lawyers who just sits back and just does things the same way again and again, I mean, you have actually, and I've seen this with my own two eyes.

[00:24:20] You've actually change the law in some

[00:24:23] Julian Gomez: [00:24:23] jurisdictions.

[00:24:30] But hang on it. Wasn't just me. We'd done some of that stuff together. And the truth is, is, is, is a lot of times I'm working with somebody else. Um, it's let me go back to answer your court. How am I able to so, so work like it's a 500 person law firm. Yeah. I have chosen and have very, very good friends that I work with within the law.

[00:24:58] Yeah. There's, there's very, very few [00:25:00] cases that I'll do 100% alone. Like I said, we do a lot of work together. I work with Richard Denny, a whole bunch. I work, I just work with, with different folks that, that have the same passion that I've got. And that's, and that aren't afraid to work. There's a lot of people in our business that are scared to work and the folks that I've been able to surround myself with, they're not scared of working.

[00:25:28] So,

[00:25:28] Brian Beckcom: [00:25:28] so let let's, uh, let's talk a little bit more about that because I think this, this is really important for people to hear, particularly people that are thinking about either starting a small business or even a small law firm, what would be your. Uh, what, what would be your advice about, okay, I wanna start a small law firm or I want to start a small business and I'm going to have to collaborate with a lot of different people when I'm doing it as a practical matter.

[00:25:55] Like, how do you, how have you kind of set up your [00:26:00] life and your firm to, to make it to where you're able to collaborate remotely? Because right now, obviously, you know, Most of us are working remote. And it's a, it's a little bit of a change to a lot of us. I think it's definitely not the same as being in an office.

[00:26:15] You've basically been quote, remote your entire practice for, for, uh, you know, for lack of a better word. I mean, you've had some office space and stuff like that, but, but tell us, you know, either what you think the most important things to know about working remotely and collaborating with other people are like, what.

[00:26:33] You know, if you want to tell us like any practical tips or apps or technology you use, or just kind of general mindset type of

[00:26:41] Julian Gomez: [00:26:41] thing. I think that that's probably really what it's it's mindset and it's the same exact attitude that we just were talking about in working up that first case. I just didn't know that I couldn't do it.

[00:26:59] And I [00:27:00] remember leaving Chicago and I was looking for a solution. So that I could fish and still trade cattle and get real time quotes. And that didn't exist back in the early or the late nineties. Um, the best that she could do was about a 15 minute delay, which it's not good enough. Yeah. But, but so you just kept, so my system, if you will, has constantly evolved, it's not the same system I had.

[00:27:30] Yeah. A year ago, certainly not five years ago, not 10 years ago. And when I'm bringing somebody on board and I have had folks work for me at times, um, I have a scar right here that you can maybe barely let's see if we

[00:27:47] Brian Beckcom: [00:27:47] can

[00:27:49] Julian Gomez: [00:27:49] see that scar. Right. So what happened there was, it was my 16th birthday. I did not have a driver's license.

[00:27:57] I had been driving for a year already so that I [00:28:00] could go to work. And I had some cattle that I was showing in at the livestock show in FFA, which is the future farmers of America. And I needed I'd run out and my parents, baby, don't go, we'll be fine. I was like, no, I got to go. I'd have been a car wreck.

[00:28:15] But, but, but this scar, when it itches. You just don't leave it alone. Like you do something about it, right? Like, like you satisfy that. And so I'm always looking for solutions. And so, for example, right now, Mmm, the process that I go through at the end of a case. And again, like we will split up different work.

[00:28:39] Sometimes we'll work together. I usually will close our cases, dealing with the medical folks and doing all that well, it's the same thing over and over again. I'm like, how could a car drive itself supposedly? And we can't get a computer to spit out. The documents that should be going to all of these people automatically and take us through one, two, three, four, five, six different steps with [00:29:00] events that doesn't exist as of today.

[00:29:02] There's no program that exists for that, but guess what I'm doing tomorrow, I'm meeting with another vendor to try and see if we can figure out some way to, to make that work. And so that's that. Mmm, that, that desire or that mindset of always trying to figure out how to do it, that not giving up, knowing that there's a solution and keeping on looking forward.

[00:29:29] And so that's really how I think I've been able to work remotely way before other people were, was that. I wanted to be a dad, the number one thing I wanted to do in my life. And unfortunately there's only 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, 52 weeks in a year. Right. That's it. And so while quality time is important, you got to have some quantity too.

[00:29:54] And, and I had to figure out a way where I could work from home, uh, with my [00:30:00] daughter loves to dance, right. I had to figure out a way how to be able to sit in the parking lot. Well, she was at dance and work. Yeah. And those were that resourcefulness. Um, again, I learned it as a kid.

[00:30:15] Brian Beckcom: [00:30:15] Yeah. Well, and, and so, so one of the things that I think people at, and so I've, I've struggled with this a little bit recently is, you know, our office has been set up like yours for a very long time.

[00:30:34] In such a way that we could work remotely if we needed to. So we're, we've been paperless for almost 10 years. We didn't shut down during hurricane Harvey, we didn't shut down. We had a fire in our building. We haven't shut down during this pandemic at all that said, I struggle a little bit with, uh, having a little bit of face to face time with my team.

[00:30:58] Uh, there there's something [00:31:00] about. Being face to face occasionally that I think there's some benefits to, I can't really put my finger on it, but how do you deal at you traveled quite a bit because like some of the time when you and I are working on cases together, you come up to Houston and you know, we'll meet for a whole day about a case, but how do you deal?

[00:31:19] How, how do you think about what I'll call 100% full remote, where you literally have no office to go to. Versus remote most of the time, but also having some of that human interaction. In other words, how do you as a solo practitioner get that face to face time?

[00:31:42] Julian Gomez: [00:31:42] So I, you were talking about studies a little bit earlier.

[00:31:46] There is

[00:31:51] unspoken communication, whether that is. Pheromones or hormones that our is admitting and we're picking up [00:32:00] whether it is subtleties in our facial expression or hand gestures that we can't really see through the computer, because you can only see from here up and it lets, and I'll give you an example, right?

[00:32:13] You're seeing me from the, from the chest up. Yeah. Well, you don't know what my feet are doing. Yeah. If we were seeing each other face to face and you saw my feet, you know, you

[00:32:23] Brian Beckcom: [00:32:23] saw, I know you're wearing shorts,

[00:32:25] Julian Gomez: [00:32:25] I am wearing shorts.

[00:32:30] But if, if you could see that in person you would have known, or you would think, you know, if you saw somebody tapping their foot like that, that person is nervous, right? So you definitely need the in person communication. And I think that's one of the things that people are kind of finding out about what's going on right now.

[00:32:52]Brian Beckcom: [00:32:52] , for me

[00:32:52] Julian Gomez: [00:32:52] personally,

[00:32:54] Brian Beckcom: [00:32:54] I'm a little bit of a home body.

[00:32:55] I'm a little bit of a. Meditator and a thinker. So, you know, [00:33:00] the first two or three weeks, I was like, Hey, this, this is not that big a deal for me. But then even me, who's a little bit of a home body.  I'm at the point now where I just want to get out and do something.

[00:33:10] Right. Um, so, so, but, but anyway, that you know what you were talking about, it's amazing. The amount of information that's conveyed non-verbally between humans, right? Body language, facial expressions, even smells. Believe it or not.

[00:33:29] Julian Gomez: [00:33:29] All of that.

[00:33:30] Brian Beckcom: [00:33:30] And you lose you just, even us talking on zoom. There, you lose a little bit of that, um, face to face contact and you lose a little bit of information on the flip side of that is I read something many years ago about a guy who ran a totally remote business.

[00:33:48] And one of the objections that he heard was, well, how do you know people are actually doing what they're supposed to be doing? And he said, well, if you're a totally remote business, then the only thing you see is the work [00:34:00] product, right? So it's not about whether this person is good around the water cooler or whether this is a fun person to be around in the office.

[00:34:08] It's a hundred percent about the quality of the work, but I, but I struggle with. And the reason I want to ask you this question, who Leon is, because I know tons of lawyers that literally go to the opposite every single day, nine to five with a bunch of other people in there. So that's kind of the traditional way of doing it.

[00:34:26] You're the exact opposite of that. And I struggle a little bit with finding some sort of balance between working remotely, but also having that personal in person. Connection occasionally. So one of the things you do is you, you do a lot of speak, you're a pretty in demand speaker. And so tell us a little bit about how the, the speaking that you do fits in with your practice.

[00:34:53] Julian Gomez: [00:34:53] Absolutely. But I want to mention something else before we leave that other topic, because it reminded me of [00:35:00] something. So I do think you're going to have as much human to human kind of stuff. And what I think you're going to see is kind of a pivot. Or a switch in the way how offices are set up. Yeah. So let's, let's take our kind of work.

[00:35:15] Brian Beckcom: [00:35:15] This is great because this is exactly, I've been thinking about this a lot, and I really want to hear what you have to say about this.

[00:35:22] Julian Gomez: [00:35:22] So let's take Patty, your superstar, literally the national paralegal of the year, right. Superstar. Right. So, so Patty's been remote for you for. Friday for three or four years now,

[00:35:34] Brian Beckcom: [00:35:34] at least I think a little bit longer than that, actually.

[00:35:36] Julian Gomez: [00:35:36] Yeah. And, and, and I was thinking about, we took a remote deposition in that Yokohama case and that's like 2007.

[00:35:45] Brian Beckcom: [00:35:45] Yeah. Did we, did I remember that? And matter of fact, I remember it used to be when you wanted to do remote deposition, you'd have to go to a physical location with all sorts of special equipment.

[00:35:57] And I'd have to set it up and it cost thousands and [00:36:00] thousands of dollars. And it was actually a huge thing to take a remote deposition 10 years ago.

[00:36:04] Julian Gomez: [00:36:04] It's longer than that, Brian, that was, that was that case with the lawyer from New York. But that mindset has been. Between us. And I guess no one can see what that does.

[00:36:18] That's cause our pictures are side by side. I'm like, yeah, that's between us. Right? That's the stuff in person. So what I think is going to want it, you're going to change the way, how space is set up. So do I need my own office with my own chair, with my own pictures behind me, but if I'm only there once a week and I don't think that I do.

[00:36:40] And so, but neither does necessarily your staff. And so I think you'll maybe see like a few communal type of rooms where you could have, uh, maybe one person in each corner and you'll maybe then have a separate room if somebody needs to have a telephone conversation so that they're not bugging other folks.

[00:36:56] And then you really need a conference room or somewhere to either take [00:37:00] depositions or meet with clients. And that's it in a waiting room. But I think where you have offices that have. All of this other wasted space that's not used right now. Um, if I could short commercial real estate rental rates, I'm pretty sure you probably could find somebody to do that.

[00:37:19] I would. I just don't think that's going to, you're going to businesses, how many economists by training. And so the, the economics of having this. People have figured out, is it perfect? No. Can I do it for some things? Yes. And so you're saying, well, I travel a whole bunch. I 121 flights last year, I had 17. It is alive 17 speaking engagement in the air, up in the air.

[00:37:51] Right. And so I, uh, I run continuing legal education for the Texas trial lawyers and [00:38:00] for a group called AIG. And so I'm able to see kind of the surveys that come back after we had been doing these virtual or remote type of CLS. They're just as good.

[00:38:14] Brian Beckcom: [00:38:14] Yeah.

[00:38:15] Julian Gomez: [00:38:15] Yeah. Good. Yeah. Yeah. And,

[00:38:21] Brian Beckcom: [00:38:21] and CLS for people that aren't involved in the legal community at least is just, it's basically, it's continuing legal education, but it's basically like a, like an industry conference where a lot of people get together and hear from speakers and things like that.

[00:38:33] It at least that's traditionally what it is.

[00:38:36] Julian Gomez: [00:38:36] That's exactly what it is. So I don't think you'll be able to replace wholesale conferences. Because of what we've been taught, people do want to see each other. They want to visit, they want to have a drink with each other. Yeah. That's what I think people are.

[00:38:50] That's what they want. They're going to want the human interaction where if you're trying to maybe learn, you'll be able to learn like this. And so [00:39:00] the kids you're going to see more remote learning for sure. And so, so space. Physical space is going to decrease people. Aren't going to need as much. It'll be an hour community.

[00:39:13] And I've been

[00:39:13] Brian Beckcom: [00:39:13] actually thinking about that for years. I live in Houston and there has been an explosion and, um, skyscrapers and Houston, particularly in West Houston. And I had a lot to do, I think, with. You know, the energy boom, which is now not only dead, but you know, like dead, dead, like as dead as you can be

[00:39:35]  and are building all these buildings. And I just keep thinking of you now, this seems to be like going in the wrong direction. Like we were there long before the pandemic.

[00:39:43] My fault was. We have far too much office space already. And why are we building more? Like, who's it for like, who's going to sit in all these offices because the, the, you know, I have, I'll give you a good example in my office of something that I think is an [00:40:00] absolute, no brainer. We have a, uh, a lady named Lauren who works our office, and she's basically in charge of like 850 hurricane Harvey clients.

[00:40:09] She's got a very, very important job. She lives an hour away and she drives an hour here into the office and an hour back, she could do every single thing she needs to do from her house. Everything. There's not one thing that she couldn't do from her home. And so I've started to get to the point where, and she has a kids too in high school.

[00:40:31] So it's important for her to spend time with her kids. I've actually gotten to the point where I'm like, not only is it way more efficient for her. To work from home and not spend two hours in traffic, but it's just, it's just better for her personally, too, because she doesn't have to spend that much time away from her family.

[00:40:48] So, so tell us a little bit more about, like you said, you think that, uh, offices will be reimagined or reconfigured. Tell us a little bit more about that.

[00:41:00] [00:41:00] Julian Gomez: [00:41:00] So let's, let's take more. Um, I think that's it. It's a perfect example to use is that, so she's got 850 folks that she deals with. Mmm. She probably will occasionally need to see someone, someone may need to sign something and elect in mass towards some of these judges require wedding signatures for something.

[00:41:19] Yeah. So, but does Lauren need her own dedicated space? No, she needs internet, a laptop. Yeah. And access to fast, or I guess fast is fast internet access to a laptop and the right apps on their computer. Right. And so she could work 90% of the time from home, but she'll still need a place to come in occasionally to work.

[00:41:42] Maybe she wants to take a break. Right. That's the other thing that we're kind of finding out. It's like, okay, I love my family. I want to be around it, but

[00:41:51] you're going to have folks are going to want to come in occasionally and you're going to need to have that kind of space set up. But. If you [00:42:00] needed, if you had 10 people and let's say you had a dedicated a hundred square feet per person, because they were there all at the same time, you're not going to have that in the middle.

[00:42:09] You're going to need maybe 500 or 700 square feet, maybe even less because Patty let's say, we'll come in on Monday, Tuesday, and then she's going to be gone Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then Lauren will come in. I guess Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And she'll be gone Monday, Tuesday. Yeah. So you would only need half of the amount of space.

[00:42:33] You

[00:42:34] Brian Beckcom: [00:42:34] know, when I was, when I was first starting out as a lawyer, it was one of my dreams to have an office with a couch in it. Like I thought having a couch in your office, if you had a couch in your office, you had made it right. And then, and then after that I wanted a TV and my office was so anyway, when I opened my firm, uh, 15 plus years ago, Vic and I both have these massive offices and I have two couches in my office [00:43:00] and I thought it was so neat that I have these.

[00:43:04] Then I have this great big office. And, you know, a couple years ago we were expanding and I, and we needed some more office space. And I basically said, Uh, I'm only here a couple of days a week. I don't need all this space, just chop my office in half. And so we ended up chopping mine in half, but the point of that is, you know, I used to think it was a Mark of success to have a big office with a couch and a TV.

[00:43:26] And now I realize that that's it. And that's more just kinda bragging to your colleagues or social signaling. There's really, there's really no need for anybody owner or not to have some. Big office space and just, just totally waste space, you know? W

[00:43:44] Julian Gomez: [00:43:44] w that's actually, I think that's part of what's changing.

[00:43:47] Right? How do you define success? I think if you talk with folks who are a little bit younger versus folks are a little bit older folks who are older, who I had a corner office, I had a big space folks that are younger. [00:44:00] I took six weeks of vacation this year and I went to 22 different countries.

[00:44:03] Brian Beckcom: [00:44:03] There seems to be a there's no question about that.

[00:44:05] There seems to be a shift. I think that is probably a healthy shift, you know, by buying Lords. I think the young kids, you know, we, we old folks, I guess we're not old yet. Middle-aged folks, uh, generation X, or sometimes we have a tendency to criticize the millennials and the younger kids. Oh, they don't work hard enough, this and that.

[00:44:25] But you know, in some ways I think I have a much better perspective on life. Than we do, because like you and I have always been about family first. Like that's, that's that? That's easy. That's no question about that. But then we have a lot of other interests too. So for instance, uh, and, and let's go ahead and talk about this.

[00:44:44] Now you are a nationally competitive Olympic lifter, like weightlifter, right? And so

[00:44:52] Julian Gomez: [00:44:52] obviously in the past few months, but, but I was the state champion in 2017 and I spent some time at the Olympic [00:45:00] training center, Colorado Springs,

[00:45:03] Brian Beckcom: [00:45:03] Olympic. I mean, that's really cool, but so the point I was going to make was you and I both have very, uh, we have thriving, legal practices, thriving, small businesses, but we also have a lot of things we're interested in outside of our practices.

[00:45:16] So how do you get into. Olympic way, like, first of all, when did you get into Olympic weightlifting?

[00:45:23] Julian Gomez: [00:45:23] Mmm, late. Yeah. I am not an athlete. I'm just, I'm not, I didn't catch flip ball. Like you played basketball in college, right? You're an athlete. I'm not an athlete on the club. Right. I read track. In junior high.

[00:45:43] And I think I finished like maybe my freshman or sophomore year. And I was like, bye you're done. Yeah. So I'm not an athlete, but CrossFit kind of started coming around and, uh, I don't mind taking risks, but it's [00:46:00] intentional or purposeful risk and, and CrossFit had too many skills, right? Like they had been doing.

[00:46:09] Jump rope. We had to jump the rope underneath you twice. Right? You can't do that. Um, they had these things called kipping. Pull-ups where, like, I can't even, I can't even explain it like you kick with your lower body and I couldn't figure that out. I'm like don't no, what these Olympic lifts, how many lifts are there?

[00:46:29] There's two. Let me learn that. Well, hang on. I don't, I've been doing that for seven years now, or so maybe even longer than that, I'm still not really good at it. Yeah. Like, I'm not like, I'm not like you'll lift, we'll look at the video and you're like, Oh my God, how did I, not, my body should not have been at that angle.

[00:46:49] Why would it do that? Right. But it, but it was CrossFit and just, there was too many skills to learn and CrossFit. So I took two skills that I thought I could master, [00:47:00] which I like. I'm not sure.

[00:47:04] Brian Beckcom: [00:47:04] Tell us about, tell us about going to the, you went to the Olympic training center, um, as part of your Olympic power lifting training.

[00:47:13] Right? Tell us a little bit about that experience.

[00:47:16] Julian Gomez: [00:47:16] Um, it, nothing but respect, right? We were, it was like a, a master's camp for old folks and we got to watch, uh, the actual. Uh, young, competitive lifters, and we got to lift with them with the national coach and have them kind of critique and work on, on our skills.

[00:47:35] But you have rarely seen our, I can't think of ever seen a more dedicated group of individuals. And, uh, I'm now on, um, the USA weightlifting's foundation. Uh, which is the organization that sends the kids actually to the Olympics and, and the amount of dedication that those young [00:48:00] kids,

[00:48:03] but they have, yeah, they wake up, they stretch in the morning, they did some yoga type work. We would work out for a couple of hours in the morning. They would eat sleep, come back in the afternoon, go back and sleep. And that's it. That's all they do. And to have that type of laser focused and dedication is, is I thought it very, uh, admirable.

[00:48:29] And, um, and so I guess, what did I get out of it? Well, um, I became a slightly better lifter, um, but, but I really came away kind of recognizing. Like excellence and other people, and you can see it, right? Like you can just see excellence in other folks. You're like, alright, that that's I want to be like that.

[00:48:51] And I think that's, that was actually something very interesting about Chicago. When I traded a lot of the other traders were collegic athletes [00:49:00] because they wanted folks that were, were aggressive and not afraid to make decisions. Right. You're going to, you're going to screw up. Not screwing up. The trick is after you screw up, what do you do when you get yourself up?

[00:49:13] Right? Like if you're unemployed football, but you got knocked down or basketball, you got knocked down. What'd you do, you got back up and you stood up, you took a shot, you missed the thing. What do you do the next time? You're

[00:49:22] Brian Beckcom: [00:49:22] writing

[00:49:25] Julian Gomez: [00:49:25] that type of skills. You can see that in other folks. And I saw that there and it kind of maybe, uh, And I hadn't thought about it until right now, maybe it rejuvenated.

[00:49:37] Maybe I got more out of that than I thought I did. You know, I got

[00:49:41] Brian Beckcom: [00:49:41] a lot of similar experience. And so one thing I've noticed is like, I'll bet ya. When you see Olympic lifters, you see technique, like you see like the art and more people. I don't know a whole lot about the technique [00:50:00] and. The training, we just see strong people lifting a lot of weight.

[00:50:04] Right. And so I started something similar in January and probably one of the things I miss the most during the pandemic, I started Brazilian jujitsu in January. You know, it used to be which by the way is completely and totally addictive. It is absolutely a blast. I'm totally addicted to it, but it used to be I'd watch these MMA matches.

[00:50:28] And now I like MMA too. And it would just be like, it looked like a bunch of guys rolling around on the floor and punching each other. And that was that. But now when I watched them, I watched a five or six MMA jujitsu fights last night on YouTube. Now I see the technique like now I see that the reason this guy is winning is because he's doing this with his foot and he's doing this with his shoulder.

[00:50:50] And he's got his weight over here and he's predicting that the guy's going to make this move. And so he said not to catch that move and do this move. And it becomes like this. [00:51:00] It's fascinating how this whole new world opens up to you. So I've always thought it was a good for people as they get older. To try new things and fail at new things, but, but learn new things because you really, I was reading something yesterday, who, Leon, about how you want to live a deep life.

[00:51:21] You should devote yourself to a craft or craft, whether that's your profession, whether that's a hobby or whatever it is, but, but to be really, really, really good at something. And to work constantly to get better. I think that's a, you know, that's a pretty good way to live your life. And so, but, but that's cool about the, the Olympic lifting.

[00:51:47] So we're real quick, cause I'm, I'm cognizant of your time and I know you've got a call coming up. Let's talk. I want to make sure we talk about this at least a little bit. Autonomous cars, self driving cars. You've literally been [00:52:00] on the forefront of this. Uh, for years now, um, tell us a little bit about your involvement in self driving cars and autonomous vehicles and kind of what you've been doing for the past few years along those lines.

[00:52:15] Julian Gomez: [00:52:15] Um, well, you can really only kind of connect the dots, looking backwards, like prospectively, you know, it's tough. Um, but I ran, uh, a J, which is the American association of justices product section. Several years ago, maybe, maybe almost 10 now. Um, and because of that, the national highway traffic safety administration had reached out to her.

[00:52:40] One of the, the attorneys for the national highway traffic safety administration had reached out to me and had asked if, if we spotted any issues within the automobiles to please let them know so that they could do that. And that formed a relationship with no. An attorney [00:53:00] there that I had. And, uh, when autonomous vehicles sport kind of came on the radar screen, they weren't on mine.

[00:53:09] There's a lawyer in Dallas by the name of Lee Brown, who was running the AIG, which is the attorney information exchange group, which is the equivalent of the national association of plaintiff's automotive product liability lawyers. He put together a small team of folks to start going to Washington, to talk with NITSA national highway traffic safety administration.

[00:53:29] About issues that potentially they weren't aware of so that we could protect consumers. And at that time, and still even today, the designers and the manufacturers of these vehicles and the component parts are asking the government for community four promises. Right. Not even for, for guarantees, right?

[00:53:56] They're saying, well, yeah, if we have these autonomous vehicles [00:54:00] that Mmm mm. We promise that less people are going to be injured. Mmm. And for this promise, we need immunity. We need to be protected, uh,

[00:54:11] Brian Beckcom: [00:54:11] terrible idea to me, but

[00:54:13] Julian Gomez: [00:54:13] it is because the truth is, is that they're not mess. At least not my data, but even if they

[00:54:19] Brian Beckcom: [00:54:19] weren't, I mean, just, Oh, just trust me.

[00:54:21] And you're going to give me complete immunity for the rest of history based on just trust me. I mean, that just sounds like an awful idea.

[00:54:30] Julian Gomez: [00:54:30] It's well, and thankfully violates the seventh amendment. I mean, there's all kinds of problems with him, but that was where it really started was that I had developed a relationship with, with the attorney there, um, the office of disciplinary counsel and, and started bringing to their attention autonomous vehicles.

[00:54:50] The first time that we went to NITSA to go talk with them about it. Like it wasn't even on their radar, they weren't even thinking. Because the way, how the federal motor vehicle [00:55:00] safety standards are written, they're written in mind that there is a human being who is a driver and then passengers. And so cars are required to have things like steering wheels.

[00:55:12] They're required to have things like breaks. They're required to have Mmm, different items that. Contemplate that a human being is actually driving the car as opposed to the car driving itself or the computer in the car driving. Uh, but that's kind of where it got started. And then we just started making regular trips up there to go and share with them what we had learned.

[00:55:35] And, um, one of the attorney, or what are the, the big law firms that represents one of the automotive manufacturers hired that attorney away? And, uh, I remember having a conversation with him on a personal level and he was very toward, uh, but the reality is, is you've got to take care of your family first.

[00:55:55] And that was kind of the advice that I gave him kind of going on his own [00:56:00] now go around. Mmm. Sharing what information I've learned. That's out there because the truth really is kind of different then. What the marketing or the public relations information is that's out there. Um, they're, they're just

[00:56:25] so not the same is that there's a great book. That's out there by a guy named Frank Lutz. I used to work in Washington in 1995 and the Republicans came in and they swept out the Democrats out of the house. Oh, that was with new Gingrich contract with America, Frank Lutz. He's the guy who came up with that phrase.

[00:56:44] Brian Beckcom: [00:56:44] Yeah.

[00:56:45] Julian Gomez: [00:56:45] Right. It's not what you say. It's what people hear, right. That's right. That's exactly. So I was, I was on the agriculture committee, right. I would say the assistant economist was that it was freedom to farm. There was no freedom to farm it. [00:57:00] Just get rid of farm subsidies. And so with, um, what. These companies have learned is that we can say one thing, right.

[00:57:14] This car is self-driving, but that doesn't mean that it drives itself. Right. But all the people here is self-driving. Yeah. And so they figured out what, this, this market's, this sells. We can, we can pump this out. And as long as we put a warning, well, they were fine. Thankfully, the safety hierarchy. We're engineers says that that doesn't work, but for selling vehicles all

[00:57:41] Brian Beckcom: [00:57:41] too often, my experience has been companies get into trouble when marketing and engineering don't agree.

[00:57:49] Like when marketing gets the upper hand on the engineers or they adopt operational people. Well, early on. So, uh, let's talk a little bit because we're running [00:58:00] really short on time. Talk a little bit about. Uh, what your advice is to people during the pandemic in quarantine, in terms of just, uh, whether it be professionally, whether it be moving your business forward, whether it be personally, w w what are you trying to do, you know, to kind of keep going forward professionally, and also to stay sane, uh, personally,

[00:58:29] Julian Gomez: [00:58:29] You know, I haven't an intro. I can't remember who you may have given it to me, but there was a 1996 article that came out in the Harvard business review that talked about what companies that, that have lasted. What are some of the commonalities of them and

[00:58:47] Brian Beckcom: [00:58:47] Jim Collins, I think built to last, I think.

[00:58:50] Julian Gomez: [00:58:50] Yeah.

[00:58:50] Okay. Exactly. And so you have to have a ulterior motive of purpose, and if you don't. Yeah, everything just kind of falls apart. So my [00:59:00] purpose at my law firm is to use the law to make people's lives better. Yeah. Right. But that's what it is. And so it hasn't changed. Right. How has our purpose still is the same as we're still trying to use the law to make people's lives better?

[00:59:17] In particular, have we done some different things? Well, absolutely. I think this is, I don't know what my sixth or seventh, uh, kind of podcast or CLE or webinar that I've given during this time trying to share information, um, worked with the courts, work with our local mediators, worked with defense counsel, trying to get them set up so that they can work remotely.

[00:59:38] But, but it is still been that same underlying purpose of. Use the law to make people's lives better. And, and that, I guess the other part, or the second answer to your question, you know, what am I doing to kind of stay saying, um, one of the best investments I probably ever made was I bought some [01:00:00] very nice weights, a brand called a LICO, which is like, um, just top of the line weights.

[01:00:06] They're in my, I converted my garage. Uh, for a place to keep a car to a place, to keep some weights and fishing equipment. And, um, and I lift four to six days out of the week. I also go and I walk first 30 minutes every morning regardless, and I try to sleep. Um, I really try to focus on getting eight hours of sleep a night, uh, eating healthy.

[01:00:35] And healthy is kind of relative. I mean, I eat a relatively high protein, low fat, low carbohydrate, high vegetable kind of diet with as few processed foods as possible and wake up and do it again.

[01:00:50] Brian Beckcom: [01:00:50] Yeah, no, it's kind of, it's not that complicated when you really get down to it. Exercise, sleep and eat. Right.

[01:01:00] [01:01:00] Uh, although it is a

[01:01:01] Julian Gomez: [01:01:01] little bit

[01:01:03] Brian Beckcom: [01:01:03] as good and purpose too. Yeah, no, no, no doubt about that. And a matter of fact, the purpose of your law for firm make use a law to make people's lives better is even more important now. And so, yeah, so, so Luke and I have been thinking a lot over the last month about. Whether there are things that we can do as a law firm, that would be really helpful to people.

[01:01:24] And so we're, we're, we're kind of on the lookout now, of course, we're, you know, we're still doing our bread and butter, personal injury, wrongful death type cases, but there's going to be a lot of other things. I think that people are going to need help with on a legal on the legal front. Uh, as we kind of come out of this as a country that we want to be prepared to help people.

[01:01:44] So. Well, the Leon, um, we're, we're a little bit over our time actually, but let me just say, this has been a real, real pleasure. Uh, it's great talking to you. You're, you're a source of inspiration for me. You have [01:02:00] been for, for 25 years now and, uh, I appreciate your friendship and I know your time is super valuable.

[01:02:07] So I really appreciate you coming on the show today. Uh, before I let you go tell people where they can find

[01:02:13] Julian Gomez: [01:02:13] you. Mmm. Well, I live in McAllen, Texas, so I don't think anyone's really going to be coming down here so you can find me on the internet. The website is www.jcglasinlawashesinfrom.com. Um, my telephone number is (956) 331-2500.

[01:02:36] Uh, you can call text, fax, um, that telephone number and, and we'll get back with you. But, um, look, if I can help anyone with stuff, lawyer, non lawyer, uh that's. That's what we're here for. What kind of my favorite story in the Bible, uh, is a story about the talents and the talent that we had as attorneys is being able to use the law.

[01:02:59] And [01:03:00] so that's kind of what our we're supposed to do.

[01:03:03] Brian Beckcom: [01:03:03] Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you again, my, my brother, we, uh, we'll. We'll be in

[01:03:08] Julian Gomez: [01:03:08] touch very much. Bye bye.