My Legal Life: Firsts Steps into Court
As Founder of Think Legal360, P.C., Beth Corriea has significantly developed her legal expertise from when she first graduated law school in 2000. She has tackled appellate cases, taken on a newly developed role in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to improve her department, and started her own company in order to help clients throughout the risk management process. We speak with Beth about the most rewarding aspect of working with the police departments and how she prepares for tough litigation.
Can you outline for Lawyer Monthly the steps you take for risk management consulting services to ensure no stone is left unturned?
My risk management consulting focuses on developing proactive risk management programmes that are able to: (1) identify early warning signs for high-risk issues; (2) respond quickly to warning signs; (3) track high-risk issues; and (4) recommend changes in policies, procedures, training and accountability to prevent and/or mitigate high-risk issues. This process begins with gathering and analysing both historical and contemporary data that is collected by an entity so that a foundation can be established for the identification and tracking of high-risk issues. By utilising data in this manner, evidence based decision-making can take place when reviewing and recommending changes to an entity’s policies, procedures, training and accountability systems.
What was the most rewarding aspect of working as the Department Risk Manager for the Los Angeles Police Department?
The most rewarding aspect of working as the Department Risk Manager for the Los Angeles Police Department was seeing how quickly positive change can occur. The position of Department Risk Manager was new not only to the Los Angeles Police Department, but also the City of Los Angeles, yet the Department and City’s leadership quickly embraced it. As a result, a new dialogue took shape that required risk management factors to be considered in the decision-making process. The effect was a dramatic change in behaviours that previously led to litigation and liability. Indeed, within one year, the Department experienced the following reductions:
· Employment Lawsuits: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of lawsuits filed decreased from 26 to 12, representing a 54% reduction.
· Preventable Traffic Collisions: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of preventable traffic collisions decreased from 526 to 409, representing a 22% reduction.
· Workers’ Compensation Claims: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of new claims decreased from 3,680 to 3,590, representing a 2% reduction.
· Use-of-Force Lawsuits: Comparing 2012 and 2013, the number of lawsuits filed decreased from 50 to 39, representing a 22% reduction.
· Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) Lawsuits: Zero lawsuits were filed in 2013.
Moreover, what challenges came your way with this role and how did you overcome them?
The largest challenge that I experienced in my role as the Department Risk Manager was the fact that this position was brand new to the Los Angeles Police Department, as well as, the City of Los Angeles and the mission of developing a proactive risk management programme had not previously been defined. So, I basically started with a blank slate. Not only did I have to create my own function within the department, but I also had to identify and implement proactive strategies for reducing high-risk behaviours. LAPD’s prior risk management efforts focused on assisting in the defence of litigation and providing “lessons learned” from large verdicts and settlements. To overcome this challenge, I started with interviewing the various stakeholders within and outside of the department to get a better understanding of their expectations for this new position and to begin identifying high-risk issues that they believed were impacting the department and its ability to carry out its mission. From there, I began to collect and analyse historical and contemporaneous data related to the high-risk issues so that I could begin to understand why these issues, events and behaviours were taking place. Armed with data, I then established regular collaborative meetings with the department’s leadership to discuss the data and, as a group, identify a solution. With an agreed upon solution, I would facilitate its implementation and monitor whether it was having a successful outcome or required further analysis and tailoring.
Think Legal360, P.C. has been providing consulting services for the New York City Police Department – how does this differ to your role at the Los Angeles Police Department? In addition, do you think each jurisdiction could adopt regulations from another, in order to be better advanced?
Think Legal360, P.C. provided risk management consulting services for the New York Police Department from June 2014 to September 2016. During my time at the Los Angeles Police Department, members of the New York Police Department reached out to me to learn about the proactive nature of the programmes I had developed at the Los Angeles Police Department, which was unprecedented in law enforcement. At the time, the New York Police Department had no risk management programmes and was facing $180 million a year in liability. Upon becoming a consultant for the New York Police Department, I assisted in the development of their Risk Management Bureau, as well as the development of proactive systems for gathering, analysing and reporting on precursors to liability. With these new programmes, the New York Police Department experienced a 13% reduction in police action claims, a stark reversal to the upward trends that the Department had been experiencing in recent years. They also experienced a significant increase in defence verdicts on police action lawsuits.
I absolutely agree that different jurisdictions can learn and build upon the experiences of others whether it’s learning what to do or sometimes more importantly what not to do. For example, the use of body worn cameras is extremely complicated and very expensive. It’s not simply a matter of buying cameras and requiring officers to wear them. Considerable thought has to go into the circumstances for when an officer is required to turn them on. For instance, is the officer required to videotape interactions with domestic violence or sexual assault victims? Is the video only to be used in court as evidence of a crime or civil liability, or can the video also be used in the disciplinary process? Does the video have to be released to the public as part of a Freedom for Information Act request? Can the officer review the video before being interviewed in connection with an investigation? If more than one officer was at the scene, can the officer review all of the videos or only the video from his/her camera? On the technical side, does the agency have the necessary infrastructure for downloading and storing the video, and distrubuting the video to the District Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, to outside attorneys involved in criminal and civil litigation? By learning from the experiences of others, law enforcement agencies can avoid significant missteps that may cost them not only financially, but may also impact their relationship with the community.
What motivates you about your role and what inspired you to delve into the land of law?
Being an agent of positive change is what motivates me. As a litigation attorney you are part of the fabric of society. You work every day with the very structures and systems that define what people are allowed to do and not allowed to do. By working with these structures and systems, I have the opportunity to effectuate positive change for individuals, families and communities.
How did you know you were cut out to handle tough litigation? Moreover, how did you develop your skills to tackle tough cases?
Growing up I was a competitive athlete and nothing thrilled me more then being in a game-winning situation. The same holds true in my professional career. I love being in the courtroom. I love arguing to a judge or jury why my client should win. The bigger the stakes, the bigger the thrill.
As any athlete knows, the more you practice the better you perform. When I get involved in case, I make sure that I know everything factually and legally that I need to know to win. I will always be the most prepared person in the room.
In addition to this, how do you prepare for the tough nature of the Courts of Appeal?
I was a second year attorney when I made my first appellate appearance. I had never seen an appellate proceeding and no idea what to expect. To assist in my preparation, I went to the appellate court a month before my appearance so that I could watch the attorneys and the judges. I spent the entire day learning what types of questions the judges ask, how the different attorneys presented their arguments, what to do if you don’t know the answer to a judge’s question. This preparation not only calmed my nerves, but also informed what I needed to do to present my best argument to the court.
What surprised you the most when you first began instructing in court?
I was in my fifth year of practice when I did my first jury trial and what surprised me the most came after the conclusion of the trial when I was talking to the jury about their decision. The surprise was learning how little the law matters when a jury is making its decision. Jurors are not attorneys. They have not been taught how to apply the law to the facts of a case. They have not been taught to identify what facts actually matter when deciding a case. So, their decisions come down to what is the fair outcome. This dramatically changes not only how you prepare for trial, but also what cases should go to trial.
After years of experience in the legal sector, what would you advise your former self?
I’ve been practicing law for 17 years and I think the main thing I would tell my former self is that the law is not perfect. Going through law school you are taught a very black and white approach to the law. There is no middle ground; there is no wiggle room. But, once you get out there and start practicing, you see that the law is very grey. And, the grey comes from all kinds of different sources. There could be political influences, societal influences, personal influences, all of which contribute to a less then perfect and often unpredictable system.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
My risk management consulting services are unique in that the proactive risk management programmes that I develop focus on long-term sustainable change that is predicated upon changing employee behaviour and the department’s culture. The ultimate goal is furthering the department’s partnership with the community by recognising that such development starts with how members of the department treat each other. The expectation is that by creating a better work environment for employees and further developing the department’s partnership with the community, the department will reduce the number of claims and lawsuits filed against it, as well as the overall cost of litigation involving the department. To reach this goal, strategies are developed that become: an integral part of the department’s organisational process, imbedded within management’s decision making process, and strategies that are systematic, structured and take into account human factors in order to have sustainable impact on the community, work environment and ultimately litigation.
Beth D. Corriea
Founder and President
Think Legal360, P.C.
Beth D. Corriea, President and Founder of Think Legal360, P.C., a litigation and risk management consulting firm that provides services to a variety of entities within California and across the nation.
Think Legal360, P.C.’s litigation practice is presently engaged in the defence of labour and employment litigation, civil rights litigation, personal injury and property damage matters. Think Legal360, P.C. represents both employers and individuals in state and federal courts. Their risk management consulting services include conducting reviews and assessments of existing systems (including data collection and management) based upon best practices and providing guidance on building successful proactive risk management programs that are designed to identify and respond to risk issues across the organisation with the over-arching goals of improving performance and efficiency and reducing liability.
