Leveling the Playing Field: Personal Injury and Public Interest Law

In the latest episode of the Flager Law Personal Injury Hour, host Joe Dougherty and attorney Adam Flager of Flager Law are joined by Lucas Nascimento of Nascimento Law and Community Justice Partnerships. This episode explores the powerful synergy between personal injury litigation and public interest law, specifically how competent legal representation acts as an advocate for the “small against the mighty”.

The Ethics of Advocacy Nascimento and Flager discuss the shared mission of representing individuals against large corporate behemoths, insurance companies, and government bureaucracies. They touch on several key principles of their practices:

• Public Interest Law: Defined as “law in the service of human needs,” this field focuses on the rights of the working poor, marginalized groups, and the general public.

• The Contingency Model: Flager explains that personal injury firms take on the entire financial burden of a case upfront, ensuring that victims have access to high-quality legal representation without out-of-pocket costs.

• Due Process as a Human Right: The discussion highlights that the right to a jury trial and fair compensation is a fundamental protection of human rights within the American legal system.

Protecting Laborers and Immigrants A significant portion of the conversation focuses on the specific challenges faced by immigrant workers and laborers. The guests emphasize the importance of “knowing your rights” and building a bridge of trust within the community.

• Union Training and Safety: Flager notes that union workers often benefit from superior training and mentorship, which provides a significant safety advantage over unrepresented workers.

• The United Nations of Clients: Flager Law prioritizes a multicultural environment, ensuring that immigrants from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Nigeria, and beyond feel safe and protected by attorney-client privilege.

• Combatting Fear: Many workers fail to exercise their rights due to a legitimate fear of retribution or job loss; the attorneys explain that a free consultation is the first step in making an informed decision without powerlessness.

Transcript: The Flager Law Personal Injury Hour | 01-14-26

Host: Joe Dougherty Guests: Adam Flager (Flager Law) & Lucas Nascimento (Nascimento Law / Community Justice Partnerships)

Speaker 1 (Intro): Have you been injured in an accident? Is the insurance company giving you the runaround? You need a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer who knows how to get results. You need Flager Law, PC, located in Trevose, with offices in Philadelphia and New Hope. The law firm of Flager Law proudly serves injury victims throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Whether you’ve been injured in a car accident, a truck accident, a motorcycle accident, a slip or trip and fall accident, or as a result of a dog bite or a faulty product, contact Flager Law and get the results you deserve. Call Flager Law personal injury firm at 215-953-5200 or find us on the web at www.flagerlaw.com and request a free case evaluation today.

Joe Dougherty: All right, ladies and gentlemen around the Delaware Valley, welcome to the Flager Law Personal Injury Hour here on WWDB Talk 860. Our host is Adam Flager, and of course, we’ve got a great guest, Lucas Nascimento. It’s going to be a great conversation. I’m going to bring in our host first—Adam Flager, how are you, sir?

Adam Flager: Doing well, Joe. I want to wish you and everyone a Happy New Year, since this is our first show of the new year, and I hope it is a prosperous one for all of us.

Joe Dougherty: Fantastic. I hope it is, too. We have a little fun on the show and I want to thank our host, Adam Flager, for checking on me. We’re recording this on Monday; the Eagles’ season ended abruptly yesterday, and Adam was checking on me. I am doing okay. We were hoping they were saving something special for the playoffs, but a lot of stuff went wrong. Adam, if you would, remind our listeners a little bit about yourself and Flager Law.

Adam Flager: Sure. Adam Flager from Flager Law. We are a full-service personal injury firm in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, handling anything from car accidents and slip and falls to dangerous products and dog bites. Basically, anytime you’re injured through the fault of someone else, that’s where you would call us. We have offices in Center City, Bensalem, and New Jersey. Phone number is 215-953-5200, and flagerlaw.com.

Joe Dougherty: Fantastic. And if you will, Lucas, a little bit about yourself, the firm, and throw in there a little bit about the nonprofit.

Lucas Nascimento: Thanks, Joe. Thanks, Adam. My name is Lucas Nascimento. I’ve been practicing law about 17 years. I started a solo practice here in Philadelphia in 2018. I am a private practice attorney in public interest law. We also have a nonprofit in development called Community Justice Partnerships. We do community justice and form partnerships with other organizations to build a public interest law firm in the city of Philadelphia.

Joe Dougherty: What led you in that direction?

Lucas Nascimento: My law school motto at CUNY School of Law is “law in the service of human needs”. I was trained as a public interest attorney. I’ve worked as an immigration attorney and with legal aid, seeing things from a human rights point of view. I found case law in Pennsylvania that asks: “What rights does due process protect, if not human rights?” Adam and I were having a conversation about plaintiff’s rights—the right to a jury trial and the right to compensation.

Joe Dougherty: It’s interesting, because in injury law and immigration, people get taken advantage of in the workplace like there’s no tomorrow. There are immigrants being hired to refurbish buildings at night, going up on hoists with no safety equipment, calling their families saying “if something happens to us, we just want you to know”. There is a ton of crossover where human and civil rights are being breached. Adam, you jump on there first.

Adam Flager: Even though we don’t practice in the same areas, the dynamic is very similar. I represent an injured person, and on the other side is a large corporate behemoth in an insurance company. In civil rights or immigration, you’re representing the small against the mighty or a gigantic bureaucracy. A competent attorney levels the playing field so that people who would otherwise be run over now have an advocate. It’s fighting back against an imbalance of power.

Lucas Nascimento: It’s using the courts to balance it out. One of the most beautiful words any lawyer can say is: “We don’t get paid unless you do”. Litigants deserve their day in court and the right to a jury trial. We match on so many issues. As litigators and plaintiff’s attorneys, we’re on the same team.

Joe Dougherty: What encompasses public interest law?

Lucas Nascimento: Public interest is another way of saying pro bono publico. People think pro bono just means “free,” but we need to ask why they need it. Personal injury attorneys figured it out—you won’t come out of pocket because the firm takes on the risk. Public interest law firms include Public Defender’s offices and Legal Aid. We focus on the working poor, marginalized groups, and the good of the public. My view is that a personal injury firm that does work for the community and gets compensation for victims is practicing law in the right way.

Joe Dougherty: Are you a 501(c)(3)?

Lucas Nascimento: We got our 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS. We’re in a young stage, building a legacy. Right now I am essentially self-funded and we are applying for our first grant, but we do quite a bit of charitable work.

Joe Dougherty: Adam, as a contingency fee attorney, you put your money where your mouth is. What are the synergies here?

Adam Flager: I have to believe in the case, because if I don’t, I’m wasting everyone’s time and setting unrealistic expectations. Our firm puts out all the costs for the case upfront. I only get paid back if I get money for my client. That could be anything from a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars in expert costs for significant injuries. We put that financial burden on our backs so our clients can focus on getting healthy.

Joe Dougherty: Lucas, where do unions come into this?

Lucas Nascimento: Unions protect everyone’s rights. When workers are overworked, underpaid, or have no nowhere to go regarding conditions, it’s a recipe for disaster. By taking care of workers—paramedics, police, construction workers—and letting them organize, we ensure proper conditions and a strong middle class.

Joe Dougherty: Adam, you’ve represented union and non-union workers. Is there a difference in circumstances regarding safety?

Adam Flager: Unions provide a great good. The training union employees have is a huge advantage over the average worker; they have better mentorship. But at the end of the day, accidents happen everywhere. Often, it’s a company ignoring safety warnings or an employer thinking about everything except the worker. Unions and OSHA laws are there because historically, corporations didn’t care.

Joe Dougherty: Lucas, let’s talk about laborers’ rights and “knowing your rights.”

Lucas Nascimento: We need Spanish speakers and indigenous language speakers to explain “know your rights” to the community. Whether it’s immigrant workers in New York or Philly, they need to know about breaks, lunches, and the process. Sharing this knowledge is what democracy is about.

Joe Dougherty: Adam, talk about the multicultural trust level you provide. You have to create a comfort level because there is so much intimidation out there for undocumented workers.

Adam Flager: Comfort with your attorney is critical. Clients have to know that what they tell me is safe and protected by attorney-client privilege. I’ve represented recent immigrants from Nigeria, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. You have to develop that rapport early so they feel comfortable telling you the important information.

Joe Dougherty: Lucas, where is your family from?

Lucas Nascimento: I’m a first-generation American son of Brazilian immigrants. My parents immigrated from Brazil in the late 70s. Regarding the legal system, when we meet a foreign national in our office, we become ambassadors for the American legal system. People from other countries are amazed we have jury trials. It’s important to show respect for their country and pride in what we have here.

Joe Dougherty: That trust is vital. People are afraid of retribution if they exercise their rights. They fear losing their job or facing immigration issues.

Adam Flager: The fear is real, but a free consultation lets you ask questions and get your concerns addressed. Without an advocate, you’re powerless against that fear.

Lucas Nascimento: In the immigrant community, word of mouth can make or break a business or a firm. They talk to each other about which employers are fair and which lawyers can win their case.

Joe Dougherty: Adam, talk about the resources the firm has to fight big insurance companies.

Adam Flager: The firm was founded in 1990. We specialize solely in personal injury; we don’t “dabble”. We have the resources to pay for the right experts. For one case, I might have a weather expert, an engineer, a podiatrist, an orthopedist, and several neurologists. You have to spend that money to present the case properly against an insurance company with unlimited coffers. And you need experts who can speak “English” to a jury.

Joe Dougherty: How do you relate a complex medical issue to a regular person?

Adam Flager: There’s a neuroradiologist who explains an MRI by relating it to a hoagie. He tells a Philadelphia jury it’s like “slices of a hoagie”. Suddenly, it’s not a complex medical image; it’s something everyone relates to. That’s a game-changer.

Joe Dougherty: Lucas, your contact info?

Lucas Nascimento: Nascimento Law at 609-703-3441. Nonprofit is Community Justice Partnerships at communityjusticepartnerships.org.

Joe Dougherty: Adam?

Adam Flager: Flager Law, 215-953-5200 or flagerlaw.com.

Joe Dougherty: I’m Joe Dougherty, thanks for listening.