He was born and raised in New England and in 1975 moved to the Midwest to obtain his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa. In 1981 he graduated from Drake University Law School. During law school, he worked as a private investigator in a five state region of the Midwest and has testified in court. Working his way through law school as a PI taught essential skills for gathering and preserving evidence. After law school, Mr. Lombardi chose to make Iowa his home. A choice he continues to make.
Mr. Lombardi is a person driven to complete what he starts. He prides himself on telling his clients what they need to hear not what they want to hear. He doesn’t believe in awards, he believes in achievement. He doesn’t concern himself with recognition of his accomplishments but focuses on winning the task at hand. He is a lawyer that hates to lose. His style is to begin to size up and prepare his clients from the first conversation through the trial. All people that become his clients are important to him. After over 35 years of practicing personal injury law many former clients and attorneys from rural Iowa refer family members, friends and personal injury clients to his office for consideration and representation.
So who is he? I grew up in Bristol, Rhode Island mostly, and then moved to Iowa to finish undergraduate work at the University of Iowa, as a psychology department major. From there I attended Drake University Law School and then headed north to Waterloo where for five years I learned how to practice law. Law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer but how to practice takes good mentoring. Thanks to Jim and Tom I did receive good mentoring. After five years it was on to central Iowa, West Des Moines, where I set up a practice focusing solely on the injured clients and their unique problems. If it’s taught me anything it is that all my clients are special people, unique in their lives and in their personal injury situations. No two client cases are alike. You are all different and each requires special attention.
Growing up we weren’t real poor but then again we didn’t have much to spare. My father, bless his soul, died when I was 13. He smoked, developed lung cancer and passed away at age thirty-six, leaving my mother to raise the five of us. Mom was and still is at 80 a hard worker. She has at least two jobs and in her sewing box you won’t find a single excuse. She raised us in a no-nonsense way and that’s really the way I practice law. I see nothing to be gained by telling you what you want to hear as opposed to telling you advice that you need to hear. You need to know how to protect yourself. This column, blawg or blog, delivers the same no-nonsense advice and political commentary. Mom never shied away from hard work and I won’t shy away from the difficult issues of the day. I’m not here to be popular, and could care less about winning an award. I don’t believe in awards. I focus on personal and professional achievements. I do hate to lose though.
I’m not a normal Midwesterner or New Englander. My idea of a vacation is not like anyone else’s. I’ve vacationed at the Shively Dryhead Ranch in Montana and Wyoming learning to ride the range. I’ve ran marathons along with raced in triathlons; have climbed mountains; taken flying lessons along with other more common pursuits, like snow skiing, fishing, boating, dance lessons, etc. I’ve been to Mt. Everest Base Camp in Nepal, Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa; to the Swiss and French Alps as well. Life is about what passion you have for it and how you live your life while you’re here. There are no guarantees in life only opportunities.
And I take those opportunities to live life to the fullest. In life, we are all just one accident away from falling through the safety net and that requires us to view personal injury laws with a broader view then is being presented. When my father died bills became real to me even at age 13. Whether or not we would have food on the table to feed all five hungry kids became a real concern for my mother. We didn’t have much but we were surviving in a much more accepting social and political culture. It’s my intention with this blawg to add my two-cents in setting the record straight. Allowing someone to be awarded compensation for a personal injury caused by someone else’s negligence is by no means a participation trophy.
The workers who built this country and who made it great are my relatives and my clients. They are my mother, father, uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sister, neighbors, friends, clients and coworkers. They are men and women of the construction trades that will labor the oar day and night to allow us a better life. The idea of hard work to earn a wage hasn’t changed, but what has changed is society’s perception about what those jobs mean to America and in the end how we treat the immigrant workers. I like the immigrant workers because our ancestors were immigrant workers. They couldn’t speak English either and maybe they were treated with less kindliness than many, but they were not rounded up and arrested for just wanting to be here to do hard labor.
And so along these lines of thinking this blawg will express opinions, report on facts where injuries are showing up and anticipated. I will take sides where it appears to me injury can be avoided (mandatory motorcycle helmets laws) just because of my experience with things like brain damage to my clients. Remember I’m not inclined to tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear and think about. If you have questions write to me through my law firm or the law firm blawg, named The Verdict ©. (www.lombardilaw.com ) If you just wish to express your point of view, then add a comment. As long as your comments aren’t just personal attacks or in poor taste, they will be posted along with all others. I do have this thing about using your legal name. It takes no guts to create a screen name and hide behind it. If you just hate what I’m saying and attack me, I’ll delete the comment. This is about promoting discussion, not about venting with personal attacks.
If you have a serious problem then call me or write to me through my web site because the InjuryBoard site isn’t secure in the sense that I’m not giving you legal advice that will be kept confidential. Remember here I may be a lawyer but I may not be your lawyer. So anything sensitive needs to go through the www.lombardilaw.com website. Fair enough?
Okay, that is what this is about and who I am so time to get writing, see you online.
Education:
Drake University Law School, Des Moines, Iowa, 1981
J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 1978
B.S., Bachelor of Science
Professional Honors & Activities:
An avid mountaineer having climbed in the Swiss and French Alps, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, to Mt. Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas of Nepal and Mt. Elbrus in Russia.
Bar Admissions:
Iowa, 1981
Florida, 1986
U.S. Federal Court, 1981
Court Admissions:
All Iowa State Courts.
All Iowa Federal Courts.
Licensed in the State of Florida.