WHAT
DOES THE FIRM DO?
It handles accident and injury cases. "We represent only injured
or disabled people in workers compensation, personal injury, social
security and long term disability cases (Employee Retirement Income
Security Act), said Gasparo.
HOW
DID THE OFFICE GET FORMED?
Farrell and Gasparo once went head-to-head on workers compensation cases
with Farrell representing insurance companies. Both decided to go out
on their own and were going to rent part of their current office from
another attorney. "When he decided not to buy the office, we basically
just looked at each other and said, 'Want to buy an office?'" said
Gasparo. "The partnership actually grew out of owning the building
because we realized that having two similar practices under the same
roof wasn't going to work because we would essentially be in competition
with each other," said Farrell. "It would have been a disaster."
WHO
HANDLES WHAT?
Farrell handles social security and long term disability cases and both
handle workers compensation and personal injury cases.
|
HAPPY
ANNIVERSARY
They recently celebrated the third anniversary of the firm.
ADVANTAGES
OF A SMALL FIRM?
"For us, it's a much more relaxed kind of a feel because it is
just the two of us," said Farrell. "It's sort of a homey,
laid back sort of atmosphere, not uptight whatsoever. For clients, the
benefit is personal attention from an attorney, not levels and levels
of staff people. That is one thing we pride ourselves on: personal attention
as opposed to heavy reliance on staff people or paralegals."
WHO
WORKS THERE?
Farrell and Gasparo are the only attorneys in the firm. They have three
staffers, Cami Richardson, who is Gasparo's paralegal, and Sharon Swearingen
and Tara Alcantara, who are Farrell's paralegals.
EVER
PLAN ON GROWING THE FIRM?
"No immediate plans," said Farrell. "Somewhere way down
the line, who knows what will happen?" |
PRIOR
TO OWNING OWN FIRM?
Farrell worked at Sims & Lopez and Gasparo worked for Schutt Humphries.
They have 16 years combined experience handling accident and injury
cases.
CLIENTS?
"We represent the little guy," said Farrell. "We don't
have any corporate clients."
ADVERTISING
They have their photos in the advertisements and they appear in a television
commercial for the firm. "We got a call the other day where the
person asked if I was the woman in the advertisement," said Gasparo.
"They were surprised to find that I was. The people that seek us
out are usually seeking us out because of our face. They saw we look
like someone they can trust, who won't hurt them and who are nice people."
|
PERSONAL
Farrell has been married to Tricia for three years and they are expecting
their first child. Gasparo has been married to Scott Dockery for five
years.
CIVIC
INVOLVEMENT
Farrell is on the board of the Florida Workers Advocates, which is a
statewide group of attorneys who lobby in Tallahassee for the rights
of injured workers. Gasparo is involved in the Friends of 440, which
raises scholarship money for children of injured workers,injured workers
or anyone involved with workers compensation.
WHAT
DO YOU OFFER YOUR CLIENTS?
"Personalized service. I can say that almost all of our clients
know us on a first name basis," said Gasparo. "They know us
personally. They can sit down with us and ask us anything." |
UNIQUE?
"I think we are unique because we are really a family, we care
about our clients," said Gasparo. "I think that comes across
in everything that we do."
WHY
OPEN AN OFFICE IN AVONDALE?
"We really like this area," said Farrell. "It's just
a really neat area to practice. It's not like you get in your car, drive
downtown, get into an elevator and go up to the 23rd floor. Here we
pull up on the street, we come into the office and we crack open the
window if we want to and let fresh air in."
"Our clients are just regular ordinary people like us," said
Gasparo. "We didn't want them having to go downtown, park and go
into some marble tiled and crystal chandelier office. We wanted them
to feel as comfortable as possible." |