With Guest Host Adam Flager | Episode 22 | The McMenamin & Wing Show

In this episode of The McMenamin & Wing Show, hosts Tom Wing and Joe Dougherty are joined by Adam Flager of Flager Law to pull back the curtain on the “Anatomy of a Law Firm.” The trio discusses the modern-day pitfalls of social media in legal cases, the reality of constant surveillance, and why the “smartest person in the room” isn’t always the one with the law degree. Whether you’re navigating a workers’ compensation claim or a personal injury suit, this episode provides essential advice on maintaining credibility and understanding how third-party claims work in tandem to get victims the compensation they deserve.

Transcript: Episode 22 | The McMenamin & Wing Show

Host: Joe Dougherty

Guests: Tom Wing (McMenamin & Wing) & Adam Flager (Flager Law)

Speaker 1: The following program is sponsored by McMenamin and Wing LLC. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect that of WWDB, its staff, or management.

Joe Dougherty: All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the McMenamin and Wing Show here on WWDB Talk 860. We’ve got an awesome show. Tom McMenamin is our host—how are you, sir?

Tom Wing: I’m doing all right, Wing. Tom Wing.

Joe Dougherty: Roger Mc—here I am. You know, the typical answer to that is it’s Roger McMenamin and Tom Wing, but I haven’t been called worse. So we’re okay, at least temporarily there. Our guest is Adam Flager. How are you, sir?

Adam Flager: Good. Good to be with you.

Joe Dougherty: Well, it’s great to have you two fantastic show hosts in the house. And you know what’s going on in the world today. Anybody? Anybody fans of Coldplay? No one’s going to any concerts lately?

Tom Wing: They lost two fans over the weekend, I heard.

Joe Dougherty: You know what’s funny—and you guys, we were just talking about this at the beginning of the show—but who would think in a million years? I guess if you’re going to a ball game, and you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing, you figure 60,000 people in the room… but you could end up on video if somebody hits a foul ball or something crazy like that. But at a rock concert, they usually don’t. At CBP, one of the coolest things is, no matter how bad the game is, they’ve got the big screen and the fans come up. I saw a hockey game on the reels where this little kid had the home jersey on, and every time the camera showed him, everybody would go nuts.

Now, guys, you are great attorneys. There are at least two people out there that need great attorneys—probably not in your specialty—but how crazy was that? The whole world picked up on that.

Adam Flager: Well, you saw that the Philly Phanatic got in a little bit of trouble, too.

Joe Dougherty: That was crazy. Isn’t it amazing how social media literally changes everything on this planet?

Adam Flager: Yeah, it happens in our cases, too. It’s a good lesson. It was a uniting story that everyone could feel good about, except for the people involved and, unfortunately, the kids and spouses.

Joe Dougherty: Let’s segue into that. Social media. Tom, remind our listeners about yourself and the firm.

Tom Wing: My name is Tom Wing. I’m the managing partner here at McMenamin and Wing. We have four offices throughout Pennsylvania. All we do is represent injured workers in their workers’ comp claims.

Joe Dougherty: Fantastic. Adam, if you will, sir.

Adam Flager: Sure. Adam Flager from Flager Law, a personal injury law firm in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We handle all types of personal injury matters—not comp, obviously—but motor vehicle, slip and fall, dog bites, and dangerous products.

Joe Dougherty: I have a scenario. I’m standing outside a gas station three or four years ago and I run into a buddy. Two weeks later, he gets a letter stating he’s been videoed. He didn’t do a thing other than stand there with his crutches. Tom, talk about surveillance in your world.

Tom Wing: I don’t think people realize how much surveillance they are under every single day. Just walking to the corner store, you’re probably on half a dozen cameras. Insurance companies will dump all of an injured person’s social media looking for any reason to deny a claim.

Joe Dougherty: How do you advise your clients?

Tom Wing: We advise them at intake. We tell them they need to be off social media. They can’t delete anything, as that could be destruction of evidence, but don’t post. Set profiles to private. Most surveillance is innocuous—someone hobbling through a grocery store actually proves our case—but every once in a while, a video goes viral that pokes a hole in the claim.

Joe Dougherty: Adam, how do you advise your clients?

Adam Flager: Tom is correct. We ask specifically: Do you have social media? Are you posting? Even if you are private, your friend might not be, and they might tag you in a photo. They are looking for things you say you cannot do. We had a client say he couldn’t lift anything heavy, then surveillance showed his wife handing him heavy laundry detergent and water at Walmart.

Tom Wing: They will string together a timeline. They’ll find posts where you look happy at a grandkids’ birthday party and try to paint a picture that you are totally fine, even if you were in pain the whole time.

Joe Dougherty: It’s about the lie. It’s the credibility.

Tom Wing: Exactly. We counsel them: do not exaggerate. If you tell a judge you categorically cannot lift a letter, they expect to see you in a motorized wheelchair. If that’s not your presentation, you lose credibility.

Adam Flager: It’s hyperbole. You should say, “I have difficulty doing this” or “I pay for it later.” If you have a busy day and then spend the night on a heating pad, say that.

Joe Dougherty: How often do clients hide the truth because they are nervous?

Tom Wing: It’s endemic. I tell clients: I can deal with bad facts, but I can’t deal with a lie.

Adam Flager: You aren’t going to outsmart the defense lawyers; it’s their job to find inconsistencies. That’s why prep is important. You have to go over the “bad facts” like gaps in treatment or conflicting ER records before the deposition.

Joe Dougherty: You guys have great “bedside demeanor,” but some attorneys are intimidating. How do you make them comfortable?

Tom Wing: Modern legal education doesn’t teach lawyers how to speak to human beings. You’re dealing with a person at the worst place in their life. You have to be an effective communicator, not just a reader of statutes.

Adam Flager: There’s a school of thought that you shouldn’t use a word in a courtroom that you wouldn’t use with a guy at the local bar. Speak English, not legalese. Don’t say “hypertension,” say “high blood pressure.”

Tom Wing: If you gear your argument to a lecture hall of law students, you’re going to lose.

Joe Dougherty: What about technical cases, like product liability?

Adam Flager: You need experts who speak English. We use a radiologist who compares an MRI slice to a hoagie roll. Everyone in Philly understands that.

Tom Wing: You have to curb the experts. I’ll tell them: “Explain this to me in English, because I didn’t go to medical school and neither did the judge.”

Joe Dougherty: You guys are legacies in boutique firms. Do you have conversations about how to educate the client?

Adam Flager: A lot of it is trial and error, but having a mentor like my father or Michael Levin is invaluable. They teach you to take it down a notch when you want to “rip a guy’s head off.”

Tom Wing: We have a meeting every week where 20 people chime in on how to handle a specific issue. I always tell young lawyers to go work for someone who actually tries cases.

Adam Flager: When an office works collaboratively and not competitively, it’s a huge advantage for the client. We have lunch several times a week and troubleshoot problems together.

Tom Wing: The lawyer isn’t always the smartest person in the room. Sometimes the person answering the phone has the brilliant idea to solve a human problem.

Joe Dougherty: Let’s talk about “third-party” claims. Tom, define that.

Tom Wing: A third-party claim is when you are injured at work, but it’s the fault of someone other than your employer—like a defective machine, a jagged sidewalk, or a car accident.

Joe Dougherty: Adam, what is a victim entitled to in a personal injury case that they don’t get in comp?

Adam Flager: In comp, you get medical and a portion of wages. Through us, you can get the remaining lost wages, plus pain and suffering, emotional distress, and “loss of life’s pleasures”—like a grandparent who can no longer lift their grandkids.

Joe Dougherty: How do you work together?

Tom Wing: Your reputation is tied to anyone you send a client to. We have to work in concert. If I recommend one surgeon and the PI attorney recommends another, and they say different things, it derails the case.

Adam Flager: We share medical records and notify each other when settlements are coming down the pike. We have a common goal.

Joe Dougherty: Adam, how can people reach you?

Adam Flager: Flager Law. Flagerlaw.com. 215-953-5200.

Joe Dougherty: Tom?

Tom Wing: Tom Wing at McMenamin and Wing. You can follow me on TikTok at @thwesq.

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