Call of Duty

Well, hello and welcome to our video blog. This week I’m joined by a special guest, one of the rising stars here at Michles & Booth, Adrian Bridges.

Adrian, how are you? I’m doing well. How are you? Well, we’re going to talk about…I’m doing good. I’m doing good. We’re going to talk a little bit about how you came to be here, what you’re doing now, what you’re working on, but first let’s do the background stuff.

Where did you go to school? Give us your resume.

I did my undergrad at the University of Florida and then I went to law school at Florida State.

And you were law review? I was articles editor of the Law Review, and I was also on the Journal of Environmental Law index. To our listeners may not be familiar with that, those are high speed credentials that make you a smart guy. I usually don’t hire smart guys, because they make me look dumb, so…so you’ve got those kinds of credentials that are pretty cool.

Now you come from a family, your dad’s a highly-educated guy. Your brother’s a doctor. I’m sure they don’t talk to you at the Thanksgiving table, because you’re a trial lawyer now, right?

Its…it’s a different relationship with my brother. He uh…you know…he’s got his views, and I have mine….but I think it’s…it’s interesting conversation. It’s just different.

Yeah, and some things that our…our audience may not know about you, besides being a smart young guy, you are a dual citizen.

I am indeed. I have three passports. I have my American

passport, my British passport and my EU passport.

Oh…okay. Well, we don’t allow you to celebrate holidays like the fourth of

July around here. We…we…we say you’re a Brit on those days, because we secretly caught you rooting for England in the World Cup as opposed to the United States.

I did.

You were just on the …you just taking…you were just taking the favorite. There was…that was an easy…it was an easy call. You’re rooting for a better team, because it’s easier.

That’s all that was. Not a great team, but a better team.

Ok. Alright…And some things, let’s see, we’ll…let’s go here. What is it that made you decide that you wanted to go to law school and be a lawyer? How’d you end up in this game?

Well, when I graduated from college I switched majors a couple times. I actually started out as a math and computer science major, and I realized that doing that type of studying, that type of work, it wasn’t personable enough for me. You sort of confine yourself to your books and that’s what you’re studying. So on I wanted…I wanted to choose a professional that allowed me to go out and actually interact with people, and so I went to history, because that gave me an opportunity to do research, which I enjoy, but also you have an opportunity to speak with all the other great minds that were working or researching those same fields. So, after college, I decided I wanted to go to law school. I had an uncle of mine who had been a lawyer for many years, and he and I discussed what it was like to practice and that sounded more interesting to me and more exciting to me than becoming a history teacher. So, I went to law school and here we are.

You mentioned your background in computer science and your goal at one-time…people wouldn’t know this unless we outed you on this, but you’re the…you’re the techno geek of the firm really, but in an enigma of sorts, because you are clearly… when we have real problems, no offense to our IT guys, but when we have a real problems, we go to you to fix those problems. Yet you’re the guy that’s running around with the broken screen on your phone and an outdated computer, and it doesn’t make any sense. You’re the technologically advanced guy around here, but you’re a pauper when it comes to your own gear. How does that make sense?

I have a new battery in my phone. That you did yourself. Yeah, most of us would completely ruin the tool by even beginning to disassemble it, but you put your battery in, right?

And it lasts all day. It’s screwy…it’s got some issues, but the battery’s perfect.

Okay. So you got this duel citizen thing. You were going to be a history major. You… We found you at the public defender’s office. How did you find yourself to the public defender’s office?

My best friend in law school, Kel Murphy… Who also works at the firm now.…who also works here. He…uh…he and I were actually…we met through Law Review our first year and then, when we graduated, he got a job over here at the public offenders office, knew I wanted to do trial work, and gave me a call you, and came over and interviewed and got the job.

And Kel’s a Gulf Breeze guy, so he’s a local guy, actually went to high school with one of my sons, but you’re not from around these parts, as they say. You’re a northeastern guy. You claim Philly as your, as your place?

I do. Born in Massachusetts, but moved to Philadelphia when I was, I think, three or four and then lived there until almost all the way through high school. So this is a…this is your new home…beautiful wife, beautiful little baby girl now. And still an Eagles fan.

And still an Eagles fans. Yeah. Yeah…unless there was a better British team that you could claim and jump on some bandwagon for right?

Thankfully, the British don’t play American football. Thankfully. Yeah.

Okay, alright. So that covers some of those things. Here’s some things that people wouldn’t know…You are really a car guy, and…and yet, in keeping with the enigma of the computer thing, you drive a what..a 1925 Toyota 4Runner? I mean it’s at least 70 years old. What is it?

It is a pristine 2000 Toyota 4Runner, and actually just went to a hundred, fifty thousand miles. Yes… which you describe as blue, but its obviously purple. It is a shining deep metallic blue…which in Japanese means purple.

I’ve been told by people with unsophisticated color palates that it’s purple, but it’s a…it’s a beautiful metallic blue. It’s a great color.

It has really a perfect dashboard, because you, as a part of your personality, I’m sure right now, even though it’s overcast outside on a winter day, you have the windshield guard up protecting your dashboard.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Have to. …because that’s ordinary behavior. You have to…

You never know…if the sun comes out, I don’t want it to damage my dashboard.

Not sixty seconds worth of sun on that dashboard, by gosh.

It’s a 2000 car with a 2015 interior.

Okay…and we’re going to get some footage of that, because people have to see this to believe it…not only the purple 4Runner, but the pristine dash, the 2015 dash, of that truck.

It’s a thing of beauty. Okay.

And a couple other little tidbits for people to really get to understand Adrian bridges, the Adrian Bridges that we know and love, is you are essentially the unofficial “king of the world” in..was it Call of Duty?

Yeah…and so you play the video game, dominate the young kids around the world that dare take you on, and it’s changed; it’s no longer Call of Duty, it’s a different game now.

It’s Bad Company.

Bad Company. Can an adult, father of a young child, still maintain excellence in the video world or is that something you have to put behind you now?

No, my daughter takes the controller every time we play a game, so I’ve slacked. I’m no longer beating up twelve to fifteen year olds on the internet.

Are they beating you up?

Yes. So you haven’t retired. It means your skill set has just diminished.

Well, the good news is I now have an excuse as to why I’m not any good. I just blame it on my daughter. She’s one year old, and she runs around and grabs my controller, so how can I play if I can’t have a controller?

I see. I see. Well, using your children as excuses is something you’ll become more and more sophisticated at. When the dashboard cracks, at some point, you’ll have someone to blame.

She’ll probably take my sunscreen away. There’s nothing I can do about it.

Okay. Well, let’s talk back at your professional existence here. You’re really, all kidding aside, a…a superstar, a rising star, here. You’ve got some great success trying some of these cases, working on some the tougher cases we’ve got around here. Are you having any fun?

I am. It’s a…it’s busy. There’s a lot of work to be done, but it’s good. At the end of the day, when you get a good success, you get a good success for the client who deserves it, it makes coming to work easy. A lot of people on the outside the firm see a big sign, see a big building, think everything’s running pretty good. The truth is you put a lot of hours in to get to get by around here, don’t you?

I was up until one o’clock this morning working on some some stuff that was due today, so there’s some long hours and deadlines, but at the same time, every client is as important as every other one, and they don’t really care how much work you have done. They want their case to be a priority, so you have to make everyone’s a priority.

And how many times have you had to listen to me say “nobody pays to watch a man juggle one ball”?

Just about 52 times a year. (laugh)

Right. Well, listen, you’re doing a great job. It’s great to have you. I hope…I hope your clients get to understand how fortunate they are, because you’re one of the few guys that cares immensely about the client well-being.

You’ve always put the client first. I’ll share this story with our viewers, and it’s a story that applies to Kel (Murphy) as well. I didn’t know either you or Kel from Adam, and I got a call from your boss at the time, James Owen, the public defender, and he said “listen, you’ve got to come see these guys try this…this case.

I went down to the courthouse, saw two young trial lawyers who clearly knew what they were doing and hired you both, and we haven’t looked back. How many years ago was that?

Coming up on six years.

Six years…seems like yesterday to me.

Frightening. (laugh) Yeah. Well, listen, keep up the good work. We expect you to polish those video skills. We…we don’t want…we don’t want to let the world down. They want to beat the Adrian at his “A” game. Okay? And we’re going to get some footage of that truck. It’s a beautiful truck.

Yeah, it’s purple. Beautiful, beautiful blue. Metallic blue.

Metallic blue…which in Japanese means purple. (laughs)

Til next week I’m Marcus Michles joined by Adrian Bridges. We’ll talk some law next week, and stay tuned, and visit us online at michlesbooth.com or check out our video blog and give us your thoughts and comments. I’m Marcus Michles. We’ll see you next week.