Andrew C. Meyer, Jr.
Boston’s Best Lawyers® Medical Malpractice
Lawyer of the Year Discusses What Shaped His Career
From Boston’s Best Lawyers
June 28, 2011
"The goal has always been to give a voice to those who did not have a voice. I have always seen it as an obligation of those of us who went to law school with the idea of improving society to leave the path a bit better than the way we found it.”
So says Andrew C. Meyer, Jr., founding partner of the prominent medical malpractice and personal injury boutique law firm, Lubin & Meyer. At the time of the firm’s founding in the mid-1970s, Meyer’s mission was embodied by his dedication to consumer issues in the products liability arena, where Meyer fought for those individuals who had been injured by faulty or defective products.
Meyer quickly began to see the fruits of his labors, as verdicts and settlements arrived for his clients. However, an unexpected thing happened: the more issues that Meyer exposed and addressed through prosecution, the more the shape and practices of the industry changed for the better. Corporations were not just seeing verdicts and settlements as a slap on the wrist; they were putting into place greater safety precautions in the way products were manufactured, tested, and sold. Flammable fabrics all but disappeared from the market, along with other unsafe products.
A Pioneer of Consumer Advocacy in Healthcare Arena
At the same time, an equally deserving and dangerous concern was coming to light in the health care industry. Hospitals lacked proper regulations, safeguards and medical professionals were essentially held unaccountable for their actions. Meyer found that his passion for representing the proverbial little guy against corporate titans easily transposed itself onto the medical system, and a new pursuit was born. “As we began to hear from various clients about what had happened to them in hospitals, it became clear to us that there needed to be exposure and further attention given to quality of care and patient safety, and we began to address those issues on behalf of our clients,” he says.
“As we began to hear from various clients about what had happened to them in hospitals, it became clear to us that there needed to be exposure and further attention given to quality of care and patient safety...”
— Andrew C. Meyer, Jr.
Up until this point, very few attorneys had been willing to take on so-called “medical consumers,” those who had been injured or killed as a result of malpractice on the part of a physician or hospital. Doctors had a sort of de facto immunity from claims since they typically had colleagues who would testify on their behalf, and it was very difficult to find medical professionals who were willing to testify against them.
Staying true to the original creed, Meyer sought out some of the top members of the profession in order to impose upon them the idea that if they wanted to create a better standard of care, then they would have to be the ones to speak up. “We were capable of convincing doctors and medical professionals to come on board—to be on the right side of this issue—to all work towards creating better medicine and better environments in which people can be treated,” says Meyer.
As Lubin & Meyer gladly took on this mantle, they changed the evaluation of practices and protocols to create safer environments in hospitals, and developed a reputation for being the patients’ advocate in exposing the lack of quality care in many institutions. Aside from the satisfaction of helping their clients, they developed a deep appreciation for the reach of their work across all sections of society. “Poor medicine is not limited simply to one socioeconomic level. We represent doctors, nurses, and corporate leaders, as well as blue collar workers. What we do affects all of us as medical consumers.”
Lubin & Meyer’s Patient Advocacy 'Dream Team'
Now, after 37 years of practice, Meyer has been able to assemble a “dream team” of the bar’s best and brightest attorneys who share his passion for patient advocacy. Partners Robert M. Higgins*, Krysia J. Syska, William J. Thompson* and Adam R. Satin are instrumental in the firm remaining at the forefront of achievement for record-setting results, having collectively received almost 600 verdicts or settlements in excess of $1 million, including some as high as $40 million.
“My vision from the beginning was really to accomplish a practice that not only does well, but does good," said Meyer. "We have, I think, effectively accomplished that, not only by achieving compensation and justice for our clients, but also by improving the practice of medicine.”
Lubin & Meyer’s medical malpractice attorneys are licensed to practice and regularly represent individuals and families in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
* Also chosen Boston’s Best Lawyers® for 2011 in medical malpractice law and/or personal injury litigation.
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