Calvin Tian, founder of PT Law in Las Vegas, has been breaking barriers and setting new standards in the legal industry from an early age. Licensed by the State Bar of Nevada and Washington at just 23, Calvin charted a unique path by establishing his own firm. His journey, fueled by dedication, innovative thinking, and a commitment to excellence, reflects a deep passion for serving the Las Vegas community.
Specializing in personal injury law, Calvin has built PT Law into a trusted advocate for clients navigating the complex legal landscape of Nevada. From leveraging unique state laws to securing favorable outcomes for clients in challenging cases, he has consistently demonstrated a forward-thinking approach to legal representation. In this interview, Calvin shares insights into his remarkable journey, the strategies behind his success, and his vision for the future of PT Law.
Licensed by the State Bar of Nevada to practice law at the age of 23, what motivated you to establish your own firm rather than joining an existing practice? Could you describe the academic path you took to achieve this milestone so quickly, and what level of dedication was required?
Starting my own firm has always been my goal, even before I went to college. I was fortunate enough to be raised by parents who required me to set goals for myself and constantly strive to achieve those goals. My mother, Ling Gillenwater, has worked in the legal field as a paralegal and a manager for more than two decades. She was a great role model for me back when I was in high school. During my off time, I observed how she helped people who sought legal representation at work and managed to turn their lives around. While she is not an attorney, she was loved and respected by her clients nevertheless. After seeing her work, I wanted to continue her legacy and keep on doing the good work she has been doing. In some ways, you can say it is very stereotypical for me as a Chinese to continue the family legacy.
I had two goals I had to accomplish before starting my own firm (1) to be barred as a licensed attorney in the State of Nevada as soon as possible, and (2) not to be burdened by a huge student loan that would have made starting my own firm impossible. Knowing the end goal, my objective in school was to achieve these goals in the fastest amount of time while maintaining a healthy lifestyle, as I have seen too many dysfunctional adults who were high-achieving students. To that end, I learned to cut corners and make sacrifices wherever they may be necessary. One of the most important decisions I made was to switch school during my junior and senior year of high school. In Las Vegas, Nevada, there is a dual-degree program where high school students can attend a specialty high school located within a college campus. Instead of following the course a high school junior or senior would, students within the dual-degree program can attend college courses for their elective classes and earn credits towards both their high school and college degree requirement. I had to sacrifice most of my free time to take more classes and leave all of the friends I made during my freshman and sophomore years of high school behind. However, by doing this program, I was able to save a tremendous amount of time. The average age for a newly barred attorney is between 26-30. However, I was able to save more than two years of my time by attending this program.
Student loans are a major concern for college students in the United States. While it was an available option for me, I could not consider it because of the financial position my family was in at the time. When I was drafting my application for law school, I would have been unable to attend law school if I did not get scholarships because of the financial position my family was in. This meant that before I got into law school, I had to spend all of my time polishing my resume and improving my grades. While my friends were away on vacation during holidays and summer vacation, I was staying up late and writing essays for scholarship applications. While most of my friends were content with getting a "B" for their final grade and slacking off, I was revisiting old coursework to improve my grades and ensure I got an "A" for the class. However, this does not mean I did not have any time to myself. I simply had to be more efficient with my time. For example, instead of taking time off to socialize with friends, I used this time to network and meet new people who might be a good connection for me in the future.
All of these efforts paid off in the end. While I will not go out and claim I am the most well-functioning adult with no financial obligations. I made it through college and law school on a full-ride scholarship and dedicated enough time to friends, family, and physical health to support a healthy lifestyle.
As a firm specializing in personal injury, how do the unique laws and regulations in Nevada impact the way you handle cases related to car accidents?
For personal injury claims, the policy limit of an insurance policy is important because it sets the boundaries around which we have to work. To put it in layman's terms, the policy limit is the amount of money an insurance company will pay on behalf of their insured for a claim. For us, this is important because most people our clients are making a claim against are ordinary, day-to-day workers. Most of these people live paycheck to paycheck and do not have the means to pay for a settlement. Instead, they rely on their insurance companies to protect them.
One of the best ways Nevada is distinct from many other states is that we have a law that requires insurance companies to disclose their policy limits after a certain set of requirements are met. Instead of making an educated guess or spending money to go out and investigate the coverage on an insurance policy, we are able to get it in a short amount of time and map out our strategies to ensure the maximum settlement for our clients as long as we stay on top of our game. By taking advantage of this law, we can have substantive discussions with our clients to (1) ensure they get the maximum amount of settlement possible from their personal injury claim and (2) monitor and/or recommend the course of our client's treatment so that the least amount of settlement is used to pay for their medical expenses.
Could you describe a challenging personal injury case you've worked on and how your approach led to a successful outcome for your client?
One of the unspoken strategies insurance companies use to evaluate a claim is by evaluating the claimant's (aka our client) biographical background. When I am talking about our client's "biographical background", I am talking about their socio-economic standing, race, or the primary language they speak. For most of our clients, the "default" background is a low-middle-class worker of Asian or Hispanic origin who does not speak English. While this deviates from one client to another, this is the most common set of characteristics.
In one particular case, I represented a middle-aged Asian woman who was rear-ended in traffic while she was stopped at a red light and suffered neck and back injuries. A classic fender-bender, if you will. While this is by no means the biggest case we have had in our firm, this was one of the cases I hold dear to my heart because it delves into the darker side of personal injury claims. After we made a claim for personal injury with the at-fault driver's insurance company and our client began receiving treatment for her injuries, we were notified that the claim was assigned to a special investigation unit because the insurance company questioned her mechanism of injury. To put it bluntly, the insurance company questions whether she is injured and suspects she might be a malingerer, someone who is not injured and who makes an insurance claim for the sole purpose of getting a settlement.
There was not a lot of insurance coverage available in this case, and the client was fine with enduring her injuries on her own and addressing them at a later date using her own health insurance. However, instead of letting the case go and allowing my client to be pushed around by the insurance company, I got my client's permission to file for litigation on this case. By taking the case to litigation, I was able to get an attorney assigned for the driver of the at-fault vehicle and took his deposition, which is a formal Q&A that is answered under oath and transcribed into the court record. During the deposition, I listed out everything his insurance company had done and asked whether he knew he was going to be personally liable for the judgment we obtain against him in excess of his coverage amount. Of course, he did not. After the deposition, I believe there was a heated discussion that took place between the at-fault driver and the insurance company because they settled shortly thereafter.
What are the most common legal hurdles or misconceptions that clients face when seeking personal injury representation in Nevada?
For those of us working in the personal injury field, there are two main hurdles/misconceptions clients face: (1) how the client will pay our attorney's fees and (2) how much money they will receive from a settlement.
With respect to the first point, we see a lot of clients coming in during intake with one burning question in mind: how much money will we need to pay to have you represent us? Much like almost every personal injury law firm in Nevada, our fees are contingency-based. The simplest way to look at a contingency-based fee for legal representation is to think of it as us helping you make a collateral-free bet. If we believe you have a valid case for personal injury, you do not need to pay anything upfront. In fact, we will oftentimes front a lot of costs associated with your representation (i.e. costs to request medical records, fax, postage, etc.) on your behalf. In the event we do not get a settlement, you are not responsible for anything on our end. If there is a settlement, our fees and costs would come from the settlement instead of your pocket. This helps a lot of people without deep pockets to get quality representation they deserve.
With respect to the second misconception, we often see people coming in with a false idea of how much they will get from a settlement. One of the things we hear most often during the initial intake is our client stating, "I got hurt the same way my friend did in his case. Therefore, I should get this amount in my pocket at the end." While similar cases will help provide good guidance for settlement, the truce is that settlement is oftentimes based on the insurance coverage available in a case and any asset the other driver may have. Even if a client came to us with a lost arm as a result of an automobile accident, there is little else we can do if the only coverage and/or asset the at-fault driver has is an automobile liability policy with minimal coverage as required by state law. Of course, one of the reasons we are retained to represent our client is to go out and search for additional coverage/assets in these scenarios. However, there are countless times when the aforementioned scenario is the reality.
Las Vegas is known for its tourism and traffic volume. How do these factors affect car accident injury cases in your practice?
As a firm that is deeply rooted in the Las Vegas community we are both blessed and cursed by everything this community has to offer. On the positive side, Las Vegas is known as a Sin City and is a tourist/traffic hot spot. This means there are plenty of vehicles and individuals coming through the city every day. With such a large number of visitors, there are ample traffic accidents, slips and falls, batteries, and other types of accidents that will cause injury to a person. For us, there are always opportunities to take on more cases and expand our repertoire, the only question is whether we have the capacity to do so.
On the negative side, since Las Vegas has more than enough accidents to cause injuries on a minute-to-minute basis, there are also a large number of law firms competing with one another for business. This is best exemplified by the countless advertisements for personal injury lawyers spread throughout the city. While we are mostly cordial and professional with our colleagues in the same field, there are times when conflict and competition are inevitable. We sometimes have to compete with other personal injury firms to take on a client, it is an inevitable aspect of working in a popular market.
In what ways does PT Law distinguish itself from other personal injury firms in Nevada?
One of the complaints we hear most often from clients who were transferred over from other law firms is they do not know what is going on with their case and why they need to seek treatment now as opposed to later. For us, making sure the client is informed is a priority. From the initial intake meeting, we educate the client on how a personal injury claim progresses from beginning to finish. We discuss the possible treatments clients may undergo based on our past experience and set expectations in a realistic manner. As opposed to telling our client to go get treated and come back to us when the client finishes treatment, we stand by our client and guide them through the process. If the client does not know what doctor they should seek to receive treatment, we provide them with recommendations based on the type of injury they sustained. When there are updates on a client's case, we bring them in to discuss the update and to plan out the next step. In the end, the client feels informed about the process and feels as if they were going through the process alongside us.
Can you shed light on any recent changes or trends in Nevada's legal landscape that have influenced personal injury cases?
One of the ongoing issues in Nevada's personal injury landscape is a petition to limit attorneys' fees for personal injury cases. The petition, named Nevadans for Fair Recovery, seeks to put a limit on how much personal injury attorneys can charge in a personal injury matter. Ordinarily, personal injury attorneys' fees are based on the length and depth of the representation provided. Attorneys' fees for cases that settle before litigation is a lot less than cases that go to trial. The petition, if passed, will put a hard limit on attorneys' fees regardless of the type of representation rendered.
If this petition is passed, I can see many experienced personal injury attorneys moving to other fields of practice as the profit margin will not be enough to support their business. For us personal injury lawyers, we are taking on a potential risk by accepting your case. There are more than enough times when a client of mine does not make any meaningful recovery because they were either partially at fault or because there is no valid insurance coverage and asset from the wrongdoer's side. In those cases, we have to bite the bullet on our costs and fees because that is the nature of our representation. It only takes a few cases to potentially cause a smaller firm to go bankrupt.
What specific strategies do you employ to effectively handle complex personal injury cases in Nevada, such as those involving multi-vehicle accidents or significant injuries, to ensure clients receive the compensation they deserve?
In an accident where there are a lot of injured parties and not enough coverage, the insurance company will generally offer their entire settlement budget to all the parties and ask everyone to come to an agreement on how much each party will get. In these scenarios, the general rule is for each party to get a portion of the settlement in proportion to their medical expenses accrued. We often refer to these types of settlement as "pro-rata settlement". If we anticipate that a case may require a pro-rata settlement, we would have a discussion with our client beforehand and come to an agreement on a strategy that would secure a fair settlement for the client. One of the strategies we use is asking our clients to receive treatment using their health insurance.
In Nevada, there is a legal doctrine known as the "collateral source rule". I often call this rule the "none of your business" rule because this doctrine excludes evidence of alternative sources of payment for people injured in a personal injury claim. This means that if our client went to see a doctor using the client's own health insurance, the evidence that health insurance has already paid for the doctor's visit will not be relevant to our claim. This helps us go after the wrongdoer for damages our client sustained with no risk to the client if there is not enough settlement to pay for the medical expenses.
What are some common mistakes people make immediately after being injured in a motor vehicle accident or another incident, especially when they assume it is not serious, and how can these mistakes impact their ability to win a personal injury case?
One of the most common ways our clients mess up their personal injury claims is not preparing enough evidence at the scene of the collision. I met with potential clients who were injured in a minor accident but did not take any pictures at the scene of the accident at least once per week. In some fortunate scenarios, they were cautious enough to call the police and obtain a police report memorializing the entire incident. In the worst-case scenario, a potential client would come in with no photographs of the collision and no contact information for the other driver involved. We often strive to do everything we can to ensure our clients do not return home with nothing. However, evidence is necessary to establish that the at-fault party did something wrong. If there is no evidence that an accident ever occurred and the at-fault party was involved, there is little we can do to help. One thing I recommend every one of my clients to do after an accident is to stop and take a slow-panoramic video of their surroundings. If they can respond to the situation quickly, take photographs and/or videos of each party's position and the condition of their surroundings. This information is critical and can often make or break a case.
Looking ahead, what are your goals for PT Law and how do you hope to further impact the legal community in personal injury?
I already have a few plans in motion for PT Law in the next few years. One of which is to relocate to a more permanent location that is renovated to our specifications. I hope that PT Law will one day become a well-functioning, autonomous machine that does not require my direct supervision and is a pillar of the Las Vegas community, much like many other bigger law firms in town. As with any other major metropolitan city, Las Vegas's personal injury market is saturated with law firms that provide adequate, albeit mediocre, representation. However, I do not find being adequate acceptable. I have already set my mind on creating a law firm I am proud to be a part of, so my goal is to make the firm excel in our specialty. I have recruited a team of competent paralegals and case managers that I can rely on, my goal is to continue this course of action until we become a well-oiled machine.
